Three Way Mirror
by Inu-san
Summary: Kagome's life has become tied to the Shikon no Tama.
1. Prologue: Beforehand

Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha and company. I'm just borrowing them to satisfy my own twisted humor.

A/N: This fic wasn't originally my idea. It was the wonderful Mighty Muse, disguised as an ass-kicking teenager. Her name? Allison!! crowd roars

---  
Three-Way Mirror  
Prologue  
Beforehand  
---  
The silliest woman can manage a clever man; but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool.  
-- Rudyard Kipling, Three and - an Extra,'' in 'Plain Tales from the Hills'  
---

_The Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls, had the power to grant someone a wish. Many demons sought the powers it contained. It was created by a miko named Midoriko, then later was passed to another miko by the name Kikyou. Kikyou protected the Shikon no Tama for many years. The only way the jewel could be purified was if it was protected for a lifetime from evil, or if a demon made a pure wish on it. Kikyou valiantly fought off all the creatures, large and small, that desired the Shikon no Tama._

_But one day, a bandit by the name of Onigumo stumbled into Kikyou's village. The priestess was too kindhearted to send him away. He was rendered immobile by horrible burns, and Kikyou took care of him, hiding him and bringing him food and water._

_Though Kikyou's intentions were pure, Onigumo's were not. He set his desires on Kikyou, and despised the half-demon, InuYasha, whom Kikyou began to love. Kikyou and InuYasha made a plan. InuYasha would use the Shikon no Tama to become a human and live with Kikyou, and Kikyou would live her dream of being an ordinary woman._

_During that time, Onigumo offered himself up to a hoard of demons, giving his flesh for their power and mobility. The demon Naraku was thus created. He tricked Kikyou and InuYasha into betraying each other, so that Kikyou pinned InuYasha to a tree with a sacred arrow, causing him to succumb to an enchanted sleep. To the half-demon, it was as good as death. Kikyou followed him in death, suffering from a fatal wound to her shoulder that Naraku himself inflicted, disguised as InuYasha._

_Kikyou willed her younger sister Kaede to burn the Shikon no Tama with her body. Regretfully, the young miko-in-training did as she was bidden. The Shikon no Tama was burned along with the village's beloved miko._

_Fifty years later, Kikyou's reincarnation-- Kagome Higurashi-- fell through the Bone Eater's Well, which transported her from the twenty-first century to the feudal era of Japan. The Shikon no Tama was inside her very body, integrated into her being through the fires that burned Kikyou, which not only turned Kikyou to ashes, but the jewel, too._

_InuYasha awoke then, and defeated the centipede demon that drug Kagome into the well. But he turned on Kagome, claiming she smelled of the woman that killed him. Kaede, now fifty years older, put a magical rosary around InuYasha's neck. Kagome, with the command 'oswari', was able to subdue the half-demon. Of course he was unhappy about it, and was only after the Jewel of Four Souls._

_During a fight with a crow youkai, Kagome broke the jewel, and she and InuYasha went on a quest to retrieve all the pieces. Along their journey, InuYasha's elder brother, Sesshoumaru, attacked them. He was after their father's sword, the tetsusaiga. He himself had the other of their father's swords, tenseiga. Sesshoumaru was beaten when InuYasha transformed the blade willed to him by his father, in order to protect Kagome._

_'Just shut up and let me protect you!'_

_One of Sesshoumaru's arms was severed in a painful memento of one of his few defeats._

_A young fox demon named Shippo soon joined them after that, and soon after InuYasha discovered instant ramen noodles. Shippo was trying to avenge his father's death by stealing Kagome's jewel shards to gain power. InuYasha defeated the Thunder Brothers, and gained their jewel shards._

_A witch name Urasue took possession of Kikyou's ashes. When Kaede, InuYasha, and Kagome went after her to recover the ashes, Kagome was Kidnapped. Urasue put her soul into Kikyou's body, which was made of graveyard soil, bones, and ashes. Kagome then figured out that InuYasha used to love Kikyou. But before Kikyou could stake her revenge on InuYasha, whom she thought killed her, Kagome called her soul back into her body. Kikyou staggered away, left only with her burning hatred toward InuYasha._

_Later, they came across a... a... a cursed monk by the name of Miroku. His curse was a wind tunnel in his right palm, given to him by Naraku two generations before him._

_After a time, a demon slayer from the village where the jewel originated joined their crew. The demon slayer, Sango, was also tricked by Naraku into thinking that InuYasha had slaughtered her village while she was away._

_The forger of the tetsusaiga, Toto-sai, ran down InuYasha. While he was with them, Sesshoumaru attacked again. InuYasha unlocked the Wind Scar, and defeated Sesshoumaru once again, though didn't kill him. Tenseiga protected Sesshoumaru. Toto-sai explained that while the tetsusaiga could destroy a hundred demons, tenseiga could save a hundred._

_Even later, they ran into a pack of wolf demons. Their prince and leader, Kouga, set his sights on Kagome once he found out she could see the jewel shards. He didn't join their group, but helped from time-to-time in order to have Kagome as his 'mate'._

_'Kagome, you're my woman.'_

_During that time a young girl named Rin was attacked by Kouga's pack, and Sesshoumaru decided to experiment with his sword. He brought Rin back to life by destroying the otherworldly imps that came for her._

_Many other fights were fought as the small group collected more and more jewel shards. Unfortunately, Naraku was collecting the shards, too. It became a power struggle to gain the shards, and Naraku would send detachments of himself to fight the group. Such detachments were Kagura, the Wind Sorceress, and Kanna of the Mirror. Others that did not last were the mind-reading Goshinki, the one that took a bite out of InuYasha's tetsusaiga._

_InuYasha's sword kept his demon half in check, and without it, he was overcome. He was lost in the feel of battle, the thought of killing Goshinki. InuYasha had to turn to Toto-sai, the creator of the tetsusaiga, of whom he had a past with, to repair the sword. Toto-sai used one of InuYasha's fangs to repair it._

_Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru commissioned Toto-sai's renegade apprentice, Kaijinbo, to forge him a sword made of Goshinki's teeth. After a skirmish with InuYasha and his friends, Sesshoumaru recovered the sword, toukijin._

_The small group was very close to each other then. Kagome was in love with InuYasha, and InuYasha remained confused. Miroku and Sango had their own little tiffs, usually consisting of a grope and a bump on the head._

_After many battles and many bruises, along with several near-death experiences, the final battle was at hand. Kikyou sided with Naraku, determined to kill InuYasha. Sesshoumaru claimed to be the one that would kill InuYasha, and so sided with his brother in order to do so later. Kouga also sided with the small group, determined to get revenge on the wind sorceress Kagura for murdering his comrades. The jewel was divided, some to InuYasha's group, most to Naraku's. Kikyou herself handed most of Naraku's collection of shards to him._

_With no more shards to find, Naraku attacked the group..._

---

Okay. How was that? Just the prologue. I had to put in a few comments so that it didn't sound like a lecture, ya know? Surprisingly enough, I did this all in one shot. I'm sure I missed a few things. Like Kohaku, InuYasha meeting with Kikyou a million-and-one-times throughout the series, that kind of thing. But that's not really important, ne?? .;;

Pairings:

Inu/Kag Mir/San

Maybe I'll put in an OC to keep things interesting? I derno. Maybe I'll have a few originals from HM make an appearance. You never know. But I do.

Bwahahahaha, I love being the authoress. You don't know what's going to happen, but I do. And let's face it, if I don't know, this story's basically gonna suck. And just so you know, battle scenes are NOT my forte, so just keep in mind that I'm doing my best here. . #

Anyway.

Ja ne.


	2. 1: The End

Disclaimers: InuYasha and the others do not belong to me, and I don't think they ever will. XP

A/N: Remember, I'm not the best at fight scenes. I'm doing my best here. ;;

---  
Three-Way Mirror  
Chapter 1  
The End  
---  
Trust, like the soul, never returns once it is gone.  
-- Publilius Syrus, 'Sentences'  
---

"Sango! Behind you!"

"Don't worry about me, block to your left!"

Sango indeed had to block behind her as a large snake youkai reared to strike. She managed to twist out of the way and strike it with hiraikotsu at the same time that Kirara sank her teeth into the neck of a human-shaped youkai covered in scales. Miroku was set upon by several other demons, the poison wasps buzzing threateningly in the air. Sesshoumaru slashed through several demons in one sweep, covering InuYasha's back as the younger made his way toward Naraku.

Kagome stayed by the tree line, aiming her arrows at Naraku. The first one missed, but just barely. Kouga was battling with Kagura, and managed to give her several major injuries that hindered her movements. She would be gone soon.

An arrow hit home in the tree behind Kagome. Kikyou stood on the hill next to Naraku, bow in hand. Kagome could see InuYasha fighting his way up the hill, Sesshoumaru at his back. He was growling, and Sesshoumaru was growling back. The demons in the clearing below were only meant to hinder, and keep the others from coming any closer. Naraku was just toying with them at the moment.

Soul stealers snaked their way around Kagome's waist and hands, making her drop her bow as they lifted her into the air. InuYasha saw this and tried to turn back. Sesshoumaru wouldn't have it. He pushed InuYasha in the other direction, towards Naraku. The soul stealers were bringing her to Kikyou.

Naraku's albino baboon pelt around his waist shifted, and large root-like appendages shot out of the ground. Kouga nearly avoided one, and Kagura took that time to strike the already injured wolf prince. His right arm was numbed from shoulder to fingertips, useless. His left ankle was broken, rendering him immobile for the most part. Kagura thought she hit both his arms, and moved in to deliver the final blow personally.

"It looks like you will succumb to the same fate as your comrades, wolf boy," she smirked. She raised her fan to strike, but Kouga moved first. His hand shot through her throat and exiting through the other side. It killed her instantly.

Sesshoumaru wouldn't allow InuYasha to turn back. He pressed forward, determined to end the battle as soon as possible. Even he couldn't go on forever and with the strain of this fight continuing for days. He was beginning to feel it in his bones. InuYasha saw Kikyou bringing Kagome closer, and grew determined to make the first strike. He was nearly within sword range when one of the root-tentacles nearly impaled him. He wasn't without injury, to be sure, and that little maneuver pulled something. Sesshoumaru pushed him on, and for once InuYasha was grateful for it. He wasn't sure if he could make it the rest of the way up the hill on his own.

Naraku had the gall to stand there and smirk, looking like he wasn't even making an effort. But in truth he was pulling off his part of the Shikon no Tama like a druggie. He was pulling all his resources to keep the monk and demon slayer at bay. He hadn't counted on Kouga or Sesshoumaru being with them. That put a strain on his powers. He barely managed to spare Kagura enough to fight the wolf boy, and now she was dead. Kanna couldn't block everything, and he'd be willing to bet his life that she would die that night.

So striking at midnight wasn't the smartest of ideas. He hadn't counted on InuYasha or Kouga being awake, or Sesshoumaru suddenly sounding the alarm from a distance. It wasn't the ambush that he was trying for. He'd been so confident in his plan that he'd even come down in person to take the jewel shards.

It was just luck that Kikyou was around when the shit hit the fan. She jumped in just as the misfit group nearly gained the advantage.

Kouga let out a cry of alarm. One of Naraku's root-tentacles had wrapped around his body, and was nearly crushing him. In another moment Naraku would have done just that if Kirara hadn't broken it. Kouga fell to the ground, twisting several injuries. He winced. He was swarmed by a hoard of youkai, but they didn't attack. They seemed to be forming... a blockade?

"Don't fight the lesser youkai!" Kouga shouted. "They're only a distraction!" For this he was glad. His muscles were protesting painfully, almost to the extent that he couldn't move.

By this time Kagome was right up next to Kikyou, and Kikyou was smirking while Kagome looked terrified. "You are no longer needed," Kikyou said coldly, snapping the chain around Kagome's neck for the second time in as many years. Kagome felt her body go cold.

Kagome tried to speak, her voice coming out strangled and shaky. "What's... happening?" she managed. Kikyou had to smile bitterly at her.

"Your life is tied to this jewel, as was mine," Kikyou explained. "You ask me why I took the jewel from you long ago. It's because when the jewel is corrupt, you are corrupt. And when it is gone, so are you."

"You really... r-really mean to... t-to kill me..." Kagome stammered. Kikyou didn't say yes. But she didn't deny it, either. And that was what was important.

InuYasha managed to take a swing at Naraku. The evil hanyou sidestepped and sent out another of his appendages. Sesshoumaru shoved his younger brother out of the way and closer to Naraku. InuYasha caught Naraku in the shoulder, and severed him from neck to hip. He also cut off his head for good measure.

Naraku's piece of the jewel rolled down the hill, right into Shippo's shaky hands. The young fox demon 'eeped' and bounded off into the trees, trying to draw away all the youkai. He succeeded. Thankfully, he was clearheaded and more agile than them.

Miroku dashed up the hill to suck up Naraku's body, to be sure that he wouldn't rise again. He was surprised to note that when he tried to unleash his wind tunnel, it didn't respond. When he examined his hand, it was just a hand. He was free of his curse, and that meant that Naraku was truly dead.

"Oi, Kouga!" InuYasha called out, facing Kikyou. "Can you move?"

"B-barely," Kouga struggled, trying to rise to his feet. The only thing that let him do so was the anger now coursing through him at the sight of Kikyou trying to kill Kagome. InuYasha cursed under his breath.

"Sesshoumaru," he growled. He could feel Sesshoumaru's attention turn to him. "Go protect Shippo."

"I do not take orders from you," Sesshoumaru protested.

"If anything happens to Shippo, you die. If he so much as cries, _you_ cry. Got it?"

Sesshoumaru didn't reply. He took off to go fend off the youkai pursuing the kit.

InuYasha glared at Kikyou. Kikyou glared back. Miroku and Sango stood wearily flanking InuYasha, scarcely two steps behind him.

Sango stood ready, her boomerang in hand. Throughout the scuffle, she'd been smeared with dirt and blood. But still her brown eyes burned in anger, expressing that should Kikyou make any cruel gesture toward Kagome, she would kill her. Miroku wore a similar look on his face. Though he was grateful that his curse had been lifted, he sorely wished he could unleash the wind tunnel on Kikyou, just to get rid of her.

InuYasha looked almost torn. He really had to choose.

"Well, InuYasha," Kikyou said calmly, "what will you do now?" She chuckled and gripped Kagome's chin, turning the girl's face from side to side. "Such a pretty face," she commented. "But then again, I am looking at my own face, am I not?" She laughed again, mockingly. Kagome shivered and closed her eyes.

"That's low, Kikyou," Miroku glared. "Even for you."

"Good monk, do you deny me that which was promised long ago?" Kikyou raised her eyebrows, turning from Kagome to the group. "I was promised a human InuYasha. I intend to collect that promise if I must take him to hell with me." Kagome shivered again, but this time in anger.

"You... cruel..." Kagome tried to say. But she was so cold that her own shivers cut her off. She was cold, so very cold.

Kikyou smiled. "Why, thank you." She turned to InuYasha again. "Do not hold this girl in suspense any longer, InuYasha. Come with me."

InuYasha didn't' move. It wasn't until he could feel his brother's presence at his back that he moved. He fell to his knees, the tetsusaiga clattering to the ground. A look of helplessness was on his face, indescribably torn. He loved Kikyou; that was true. But he loved Kagome, too. His thoughts, as soon as he thought he was getting somewhere, crashed and derailed. Kikyou looked amused.

Kagome couldn't keep the chill from creeping into her heart. Somewhere deep inside she knew InuYasha would chose Kikyou. He'd always choose Kikyou. He'd always choose death over life.

He couldn't choose Kikyou, he loved Kagome. Kagome was the one that really accepted him, wanted to stay with him. Kagome's affections were true, just for him, as he was, as a hanyou.

Doubt reared its ugly head in Kikyou's mind. Perhaps InuYasha _would_ choose Kagome. After all, the girl did seem to be more innocent and pure than she could ever be, ever was.

No, not Kagome. It had to be Kikyou. Kikyou shared with him the pain of loneliness, and with each other they wouldn't be lonely any more. No! He wasn't lonely any more, not with Kagome. And there was even Miroku, Sango, and Shippo to keep him from being lonely. But then Kikyou would be all alone, and he had promised her that he would become human to be with her. But no, that wasn't right, either! True he promised Kikyou that he would protect her, but he promised the same thing to Kagome. And Kikyou was already dead. How could he love a corpse? Kagome was very much alive, and vulnerable. Kagome was so pure, gentle, and carefree. Kikyou was cold and vindictive.

"Give it back," InuYasha said quietly. Even Sesshoumaru almost missed it.

"Give what back?" Kikyou replied, glaring and taking a miniscule step away from him.

"Kagome's soul, give it back!" InuYasha roared, rising to his feet.

Kikyou glared forcefully at him. "It is not her soul! It belongs to me!"

"Maybe once," InuYasha agreed. "But not any more. It belongs to Kagome, so give it back to her!"

"If I give it back, I will die," Kikyou stated, trying to stop him in his tracks. But his decision was already made.

"So be it!"

---

There's the first chapter. Did you like it? I'm sorry, I'm really not that good at battle scenes, so I just kinda jumped in the middle of things and finished it. I really think it would be harder to kill Naraku just like that. .; Oh, I'm sorry!!!!! I really need to work on that!! But for now, this will just have to be it....

I don't really like this all that much. I mean, I like the concept but I don't like the way I portrayed it. Grr... I'll just have to fix it when I get better. nod

Ah, I almost forgot. This was going up on first. I'm trying to keep beginning/ending comments seperate for the two sites. And just a further note; I have chapters 1-14 finished and up on mediaminer. If you're too impatient to wait for it here, check it out there. If you want a lemon chapter, they WILL be NC-17, but posted on mediaminer and under the account name Lemon Goddess. I have none as of yet, but links will be posted on both this and mediaminer chapters. They will be in in-between chapters where nothin' major happens, but the lemon is there. If you don't read them, nothing too bad. Just some dialogue, and... heh... you know. Anyway...

Ja ne.


	3. 2: Love Bites

Disclaimers: I don't own anything here. Not even the idea. Do you know how pathetic that is?

---  
Three-Way Mirror  
Chapter 2  
Love Bites  
---  
Women are very pleased when you call them cruel.  
-- Pierre-Augustin de Beaumarchais, 'The Barber of Seville'  
---

_"Give it back," InuYasha said quietly. Even Sesshoumaru almost missed it._

_"Give what back?" Kikyou replied, glaring and taking a miniscule step away from him._

_"Kagome's soul, give it back!" InuYasha roared, rising to his feet._

_Kikyou glared forcefully at him. "It is not her soul! It belongs to me!"_

_"Maybe once," InuYasha agreed. "But not any more. It belongs to Kagome, so give it back to her!"_

_"If I give it back, I will die," Kikyou stated, trying to stop him in his tracks. But his decision was already made._

_"So be it!"_

_--_

Kikyou stared at InuYasha in disbelief. She smiled in denial and shook her head a little. "Gomen ne," Kikyou growled. "I thought you said that you didn't care that when my soul is handed off to this... this... _girl_, that you--"

"Don't give a shit," InuYasha finished for her. "Not any more."

"InuYasha, you are in denial," Kikyou insisted. InuYasha growled at her.

"Don't think so, Kikyou," InuYasha replied. "For once, I'm thinking all the way through."

Sango and Miroku stared at InuYasha in disbelief. Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, and Shippo hopped onto InuYasha's shoulder. "Don't hurt yourself," he quipped. InuYasha bopped him one so hard that the kit saw stars and went cross-eyed.

"Damn it, Kikyou, don't make me kill you," InuYasha said coldly. The ice in his voice greatly contrasted to the heated rage that burned below the surface. Everyone could see it. Kagome looked up at the hanyou and gasped.

His face was tinged with an angry red, his silver-white hair splattered with blood, some was his own and some not. His haori was torn and frayed in some places from the battle, the red a deeper red, nearly black, in some places where he was still bleeding. Across one cheek was a clean slice, still running in red rivulets down his face. He was smeared with dirt and grime, and didn't seem to give a damn. Something burned in his eyes; something dangerous.

Sesshoumaru, perhaps the cleanest that had been fighting, clearly felt the energy rolling off his younger brother in waves. The hanyou was angry, no doubt about it, and he couldn't really blame him. He'd been lied to, cheated, beaten, hurt, any kind of abuse you could possibly think of. It was in that moment that Sesshoumaru had a sudden revelation: InuYasha was stronger than he was. True it wasn't constant, but he supposed that everyone got stronger when they were protecting something-- or someone-- they truly loved. It was an interesting theory.

Kikyou drew an arrow slowly, and aimed it right at InuYasha's heart. "No, InuYasha," she said. "I think it's me that would be made to kill _you_. Do not push me."

"Oh, I'll push you alright," InuYasha responded, "Right off another cliff." This came off as unexpected to everyone. Shippo blinked rapidly up at InuYasha, and Sesshoumaru struggled to remain unaffected while Sango and Miroku's jaws dropped. Even Kouga, who was making his way slowly up the hill, gasped. InuYasha's posture betrayed nothing. He seemed perfectly calm, almost stoic. Almost like Sesshoumaru. Almost like Kikyou. Almost.

"Would you?" Kikyou said in a low tone, meant to be threatening. "Would you really choose this girl that is not even from this time, over me? We could go back to what we had, InuYasha. We could be together. Have each other."

InuYasha shook his head slowly, left and right, and that was it. "You destroyed anything that we could have had when you pinned me to the God Tree that day."

"You cannot kill me," Kikyou declared.

"I'll sure as hell try, if that's what it comes down to. Now let Kagome go and give her back her soul."

Kikyou glared at him, but the soul stealers set Kagome on her feet. But her knees were weak, and she collapsed to her knees. She was still shivering, still cold. Shippo hopped up next to her, and patted her leg reassuringly.

InuYasha picked up his sword, not taking his eyes off Kikyou, almost like he expected her to try something. He sat down near Kagome, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He held her in the circle of his arms, sword held tensely toward Kikyou. "You okay?" he asked gently. Kagome nodded, leaning into his warm embrace.

"Yeah," she shivered. "But I'm cold."

Kikyou smirked at that. "Of course you are," she mocked. "I hold part of your life in my hands."

"Uh," Shippo interjected. "I think you just insulted yourself there..."

InuYasha stood quickly, bringing Kagome with him. He glared meaningfully at the undead bitch. "What the fuck was that supposed to mean?!" InuYasha yelled.

"It means, my dear hanyou," Kikyou said mockingly, "that I have Kagome right where I want her."

"Well that tells me a lot," InuYasha sneered.

"That... is SO... SICK..." Miroku commented. Sango bopped him with her boomerang, and he saw stars. Everyone looked at the fallen perverted monk in shock and/or disbelief. Shippo frowned.

"I still don't get anything he says," he complained.

Kikyou glared at the kit. "Give me the jewel, fox."

Shippo stuck his tongue out at her. "No!" he cried. Kikyou shot an arrow at him, but he quickly dodged behind InuYasha with a loud wail. Kagome frowned and looked worriedly over InuYasha's shoulder to the young kitsune. InuYasha growled, vibrating Kagome from head to toe; at least, more than she was already shivering. All anger was directed to Kikyou. Kikyou could feel the tension thick in the air, and grew fearful. That was her last arrow. She did the last rational thing she could think of.

She ran. Ran like a bitch outta hell; which was meant figuratively and literally.

InuYasha cursed under his breath and gave Kagome a comforting and explaining squeeze before entrusting her to Sango and taking off after Kikyou. Kikyou was barely down the hill before InuYasha caught up with her. They could all see the following battle.

Kikyou stumbled backward when InuYasha cut her off. Everyone could tell he was trying to stay in control enough that he wouldn't kill her. Not if he could help it. But Kikyou became frantic and smacked InuYasha upside the head with her bow. She was going to do it again, but something truly terrifying happened.

InuYasha caught the bow at least a foot before it struck its target, almost by reflex. His entire being was calm, serene, and cold. He slowly turned to face the woman. On his face was a look of quiet rage that made even Sesshoumaru tremble in fear. The hanyou stared at Kikyou with crimson and sapphire eyes. Everyone could see Kikyou shaking in fright. She struggled to summon up her miko powers, but it wouldn't work. She was too scared. She was staring true death right in the eyes, a death from which she could never return.

InuYasha glanced around, as if he didn't remember where he was or whom he was with. A snarl worked its way across his face until he saw Kagome, cradling Shippo in her arms. He then looked to Kikyou. Kikyou knew that all youkai were straightforward... well, most. They hardly ever lied. This was her chance.

"I-Inu...Yasha..." she stammered. InuYasha glared at her. "Does that girl up there mean more to you than I do?" she asked.

An evil, alarming smirk passed over his features. When he spoke, his voice was thick with a growl. "Kagome can't compare to you," he said. Kikyou felt a cooling relief flood over her. The relief was taken away when InuYasha fisted his hand in her yukata and jerked her forward, an intimidating glare on his face. "You're dead."

Kikyou froze on the spot, just as a hand violently pierced her stomach. Since she was already dead, she didn't bleed. That was bad. InuYasha rammed his other set of claws through her throat, coming out the other side of her neck. Kikyou gasped for breath, and failed. InuYasha spit a small amount of blood from his mouth to the ground, not taking his eyes off Kikyou.

He dropped her, making her land unceremoniously on the ground, writhing and arching her back in violent spasms. He walked up the hill to the others, Kikyou managing to control her movements enough to watch him. He moved gracefully when he was calm, with a fluidity he didn't possess as a hanyou. Sango rather cowered away from Kagome and InuYasha as he approached. Kagome held her ground. She wasn't cold any more, and she faintly wondered why. InuYasha stopped in front of her.

She stared admiringly into those fiery eyes unflinching, while Shippo shied away to hide on Miroku's shoulder. InuYasha hesitated for a moment, as if he'd never seen anything like the look Kagome was giving him now: warm and affectionate, not at all afraid. At least, not afraid of him, just what he would do. After that moment, he was back into that manic calm. He held out a hand before her, the smaller part of the Shikon no Tama in his hand.

Kagome stared at the jewel in surprise. Then she looked back up into those corruptly innocent eyes and gasped at what she saw there. The raw need and love she saw was nearly staggering. He wanted her, not because she was Kikyou's reincarnation or just alive, but because she was simply Kagome. Ka-go-me.

InuYasha took her hand and placed the jewel in her palm. Kikyou, down in the ditch between two hills, made a sound of outrage. No one paid her any mind. InuYasha slowly pulled Kagome to him, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Kagome hugged him back, fisting her hands in his haori. He nuzzled her neck, and edged her collar to the side a little. This startled her, and she instinctively pulled away from him by a fraction of a fraction. He growled.

"He is taking you as a mate," Sesshoumaru said quietly. "It would be in your best interest if you do not refuse him."

She nodded as the other two youkai and the demon slayers' jaws dropped. Miroku blinked. "Mate?" he wondered aloud.

"Like a wife," Sango answered him on reflex. "The bite near the shoulder indicates that a person already has a mate and cannot be claimed by anyone else. If it were that way..." she trailed off, with an uncertain motion with her hands.

"It would be a fight to the death," Kouga supplied, coming to stand next to Sesshoumaru. It was then that they realized Kouga was taller than Sesshoumaru. However, he hunched to seem shorter. Even though Kouga was the prince of his pack, Sesshoumaru was lord of the western lands. To stand taller than him was a challenge to his authority. "And not one that I'm up to right now."

Shippo frowned. "You mean you won't fight InuYasha over Kagome any more?" he asked. Kouga nodded. Shippo mouthed the word, 'wow'. Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement.

InuYasha tugged away Kagome's collar, and lightly sniffed along her skin. When Kagome didn't pull away, he gently pressed his teeth to the juncture of her shoulder and neck. Once he was sure she wouldn't struggle, he sank his teeth into her flesh, enough to draw blood but not enough to wound. The line of Kagome's body tensed greatly at the sensation. She didn't pull away, but she didn't lean into it, either. Even as InuYasha licked away the blood, she could feel her shattered heart fix itself. It was as if she'd found a part of her that she didn't know was missing.

In the ditch, Kikyou managed to scream in outrage. She tried to claw her way up the hill, but the exertion proved itself too much for her to handle. InuYasha looked at her, eyes full of hatred and contempt. It only made her angrier. He held Kagome with one hand on each of her sides, and held her close again. Kagome leaned into him, because her legs suddenly felt unstable. InuYasha sent a glance to Sesshoumaru, who easily strode down the hill and severed Kikyou's head and neck with his poisonous whip. The poison would have no effect on her -- being dead and all -- but it stung like an effing bitch. When her head fell to the ground, she disintegrated into graveyard soil and bones.

InuYasha moved against Kagome. It was slight, but she felt it all the same. He ground himself against her, being very forward. Kagome 'eeped' in alarm and surprise, as he was caught up in his instincts trying to take her right there. He fumbled for the seam of her skirt, and Miroku moved to stop him. Kouga grabbed his arm, too quick to be comfortable, but he didn't think InuYasha would

Kagome felt herself shake. However, she didn't shake; it was InuYasha. He fell to his knees, in effect taking Kagome down with him. He wrapped his arms around her as if she were a lifeline, and buried his face in her neck. All the humans and young youkai could do was watch helplessly. Kouga raised an eyebrow. Sesshoumaru walked back up to them. At the same time, a blue light hit Kagome in the back, causing her to shiver.

InuYasha looked back up at her with golden honey eyes, truly shocked.

---

Not much of a cliffhanger, but oh well. I don't normally do that. Did you like this chapter?

Did you get the connection with the title of the chapter and the theme? InuYasha's love bite? It was meant figuratively and literally.

One of the reviews on mediaminer came from my friend Meletina, and she accused me of doing cliffhangers in ALL of my chapters. I looked back and tried to see if I could fix them, but I didn't see any cliffhangers. All I saw were places to end. Sorry if you see them that way. Just know that I tried!

Ja ne.


	4. 3: Trash Talk

Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha or any of the copyrighted characters or themes and whatnot. Sorry to disappoint you.

---  
Three-Way Mirror  
Chapter 3  
Trash Talk  
---  
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.  
-- 'Gone with the Wind,' the movie  
---

_I am Kikyou._

I am Kagome.

_I loved InuYasha once, fifty years ago. He promised to be human for me. He will be human for me._

I love InuYasha now, for who and what he is. He doesn't have to be human for me. He turns human every new moon.

_I guarded the Shikon no Tama with my life._

The Shikon no Tama has become the base of my life.

_InuYasha betrayed me._

InuYasha would never betray me.

_He loved me._

He loves me.

_You are merely a carbon copy. InuYasha only took you as his lover because you remind him of me. He cares nothing for you. You merely find him the jewel shards._

We have all the jewel shards now. And he took me as his mate when you were right there at the foot of the hill. He wouldn't have done that had he still wanted you. He even had Sesshoumaru kill you.

_He wanted revenge on me for leaving him. You were merely a tool for that. He always came to me. He wanted me to merge with you so that he wouldn't have to search for me any more._

That's not true.

_You do not sound so sure._

He's been ignoring you for several weeks now. He's gotten over you.

_That cannot be._

Now you're the one that doesn't sound so sure.

_He still has feelings for me._

Yes, he does. Regret, sorrow, pain, pity—

_He does not pity me! I do not need his pity!_

Pity isn't something that can be controlled. Either you pity someone or you don't, and that can't be changed very easily.

_You will regret talking down to me, wench. I swear you will pay for that._

How? We share the same body now. Whatever you do to me, you have to do to yourself, too. I don't deny that you love InuYasha, so I don't think you'll take your own life just so that I can't have him.

_You would place your trust in me so easily?_

I don't trust you, Kikyou. I just know that there's more of a force to keep you from killing me now. If I die, you die. And there won't be anyone to resurrect you again. For now, I think you had better just settle down.

--

Kagome woke up gently, warm and comfortable in the nest of InuYasha's arms. She couldn't help noticing how small she felt like that. Not insignificant, but tiny. She was all but lost behind the large sleeves of his haori. Quite suddenly she realized that she must have squirmed around in her sleep. The neck of InuYasha's haori had slipped down his shoulder, exposing a tempting expanse of flesh that, had Kagome been in his position, would have revealed the bite mark near her neck.

A sudden urge overcame her, telling her to bite him back. It was only fair, after all. He bit her, so she gets to bite him. But just as she had worked up enough nerve to undergo the task, InuYasha stirred and woke up. His golden eyes were warm and heavy with sleep, but he recognized Kagome.

"Good morning," Kagome smiled.

"Morning," InuYasha replied with a sleepy mumble.

"Actually, its mid-afternoon," Miroku interjected. He didn't face them. He was preoccupied with his stew that Kaede handed him. The rest of the group, too, was gathered around the fire pit, happily lapping up the food, still hungry after the long battle the day before.

Oddly, neither InuYasha nor Kagome realized the full extent of their group's injuries. Miroku's left arm was in a sling, and there was a bandage around his head, covering a scalp wound. Sango's right leg was splinted, and her right hand was bandaged. Kouga, not being able to get home with his injuries, was also receiving medical attention from the elderly miko, as well as a hearty helping of stew. His treatments were few, since he was a fast healer, but his ankle was bandaged, and his right arm was covered in medicinal herbs that were supposed to help get the blood flowing through the limb again. Shippo suffered a fractured tail bone, but no other serious injuries. He was expected to make the quickest recovery. But, being the child he was, he wanted some "pretend" injuries, and treated himself to Kagome's first-aid kit. He had Band-Aids on his hands, feet, and even several on his face.

Kagome had a few scrapes and cuts, but no serious physical injuries. She had more psychological damage than physical. InuYasha, on the other hand, was the most physically damaged, though he refused to admit it. More than once he had gotten nicked by the root-like appendages of Naraku, and the strain over the course of the seven-day battle had opened and reopened those wounds until they were worse than when they were inflicted, and a few were even infected. His joints were stiff, his back was kinked in several spots, one knee was swollen, and there was a _very_ painful nick in his ear. That one didn't bleed, but it hurt the most. Next to his knee... And his back... And his arms... Hell, screw the damn ear, that was a minor wound compared to his other hurts.

Just then, Sesshoumaru waltzed in like he was entering a grand courtroom instead of a humble wooden hut. Behind him trailed his little green imp and Rin. Rin giggled and joined Shippo by the fireside, wondering about the many Band-Aids that littered his form. Jaken looked disgusted. It was unclear what Sesshoumaru thought, because he kept his face carefully blank.

"Naraku has been properly cremated," he reported. "The villagers, though, are less than pleased to have Kouga or myself in their midst."

"Well it's not like you _have_ to stay here," InuYasha sneered. "We're not holding you against your will or nothin'."

To this Sesshoumaru glared. He was determined to test his theory of power, but was wary to admit that to his "inferior little brother." So he said, "Rin seems quite happy here. I think we will stay a while."

Jaken cried out in alarm. "B-b-but m-my lord! Th-this place is hardly... _appropriate_ for a youkai such as yourself!" He would have continued, but Sesshoumaru graced him with an icy glare.

"Jaken," he said in a warning tone, "you would do well to remember who it is you are talking to. Should you speak out of turn again, your life shall be forfeit."

The toad-imp bowed his head. "Y-y-yes, my lord," he complied, bowing his head.

"Great," InuYasha grumbled.

"Do you not approve of my presence, little brother?" Sesshoumaru inquired. "In that case, we shall leave."

"But... Lord Sesshoumaru," Rin frowned. "I thought you said that we could stay a while... I wanted to play with Shippo."

"Insolent child!" Jaken exclaimed, whirling on Rin. "Know your place! To challenge Lord Sesshoumaru's word is to look death in the eye!"

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said sharply. The imp flinched.

"Fine, fine, you can stay," InuYasha wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Just keep an eye on your brat. I don't want her getting in the way of things around here."

---

I almost forgot: If you want this story sans comments, go to and look me up under the name Adolpha.

Ja!


	5. 4: All in the Name of Firewood

Disclaimers: You will all ph33r the day that I, AnimeFan, buy InuYasha and company off E-Bay!!!! Muahahahahahaha!!! huggles the InuYasha & co. plushies she got off E-Bay P

A/N: Before I lost this fic, I had chapter four half-done. This is kind of straying from where it was headed, but oh well. Change is good, right?

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter 4  
All in the Name of Firewood  
---  
If stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?  
-- Anonymous, or I forgot.  
---

"InuYasha, are you sure you're alright?" Kagome inquired. InuYasha brushed her off and continued walking. "Are you sure that you don't want to take a rest? Look, we can stop right here and—"

InuYasha whirled on the girl, silencing her immediately. "I'm _fine_!" he shouted. "I'm not going to die by just going out to get some goddamn fire wood!" He continued on down the path into the forest, but Kagome had already noticed the limp in his right leg. He was determined to not let his injuries hamper his actions, and for the most part, it was working. But Kagome had known InuYasha for just a _little _too long. She immediately noticed the stiffness in his movements and the slight wince on his face when he set his weight on his right leg. Now she trailed behind him while he made his way to find firewood for Kaede.

Kaede pursed her lips as she looked at the low stock of chopped firewood in the corner. Rin noticed this, and said, "What is it, Lady Kaede?"

To this Kaede smiled and replied, "Nothing to worry your head over, child. I must go fetch firewood before the day is out."

Sesshoumaru rose to his feet with fluid grace. "I'll go get the firewood," he announced. There was a visible effort on Jaken's face that kept him from squealing indignantly at the idea. InuYasha, too, stood, though it was more choppy and somewhat hesitant.

"No, you won't," he growled. "_I _will."

"Do not be absurd, little brother," Sesshoumaru scoffed. "You are hardly in any condition to be walking, let alone chopping wood."

InuYasha's face was contorted into a vicious snarl. "What was that?" he demanded between clenched teeth.

In an effort to soothe the tension building in her home, Kaede interrupted. "What about you, Lord Sesshoumaru? Surely ye are not without injuries yourself."

"I am well enough to wield an axe," he provided evasively.

"So am I," InuYasha challenged him.

"The fox would do better than you while in your current state. Let me retrieve the wood, and you can carry the kindling."

InuYasha's eye twitched. "Just for the record, dear brother," InuYasha said insultingly, "you aren't _that _much stronger than me! You'll stay here, and watch your brat," he commanded. With that he stormed out of the hut with a wounded pride, and an air to match. It was then that Kagome saw the slight break in his step as he picked up the axe.

She cast about quickly to see if anyone else had noticed. Assuming that they hadn't, Kagome quickly followed after InuYasha.

"I still don't see why you couldn't just let Sesshoumaru get the wood," Kagome mumbled, thinking that she was out of earshot.

"Because I don't need my stinkin' older _half _brother taking control of my life!" InuYasha yelled. "Haven't you noticed that he's been doing almost _everything _lately? He's hardly let me move and inch! I am not some weak pup that needs his protection, and it's high time he realized that, though I don't know what made him change his mind about killing me!"

Heaving a heavy sigh, Kagome caught up to him. "Maybe he just thinks you need to rest. Maybe he's just giving you a break! He hardly seems the type of person that would kick a guy when he's down—or that'd kill them, for that matter."

"I'm _not _down," InuYasha argued.

"Maybe not, but you're not at your prime," Kagome provided.

"Harrumph," was all he had to say to that.

So apparently Kagome had won for the moment. But she couldn't help feeling defeated. She wasn't quite strong enough to wield a heavy axe, let alone use it to chop firewood. And she almost felt guilty for taking only minor damage during the fight with Naraku. Everyone else had had some sort of heavy blow, but not she. And now she was one of the most able-bodied persons around the hut, and she felt that she could hardly do anything useful.

Quietly, she fell in step with InuYasha, who unconsciously slowed down to less of a storm and more of a stride. She wanted to help, but she didn't quite know how. This wasn't something that could be solved by finding another jewel shard or shooting a purifying arrow. She settled for taking InuYasha's hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. He was almost surprised for a moment, but didn't let that stop him.

They walked the rest of the way into the forest where there was prime firewood, hand in hand and in peaceful silence.

--

The axe fell to the ground with a loud thump, InuYasha clutching his shoulder. Kagome was by his side in an instant, the kindling quite forgotten. "InuYasha?" she exclaimed. InuYasha tried, to brush her off, but that only made it worse. Apparently, he had reopened a nasty wound that was on his shoulder. He was bleeding freely again, and it was even dripping down his fingertips. Kagome was in a near panic, and InuYasha kept insisting that he was alright.

Kagome got so frustrated with him that she stomped her foot and pushed his hand away from his shoulder, and pulled his haori down enough to see the wound.

When she saw it, she had to gasp. Surely it was nothing to what Sesshoumaru had done in the past, but that was closed over when she saw it. This wound pierced his muscle all the way through, and was big enough that Kagome was sure she could fit her fist in it. Not that she wanted to, of course. It was just comparison.

"What do you think you're—Hey!" InuYasha exclaimed, trying his damnedest to escape Kagome.

"Just stop! I'm not gonna say it, but I want you to _do_ it!" she countered. InuYasha grumbled and sat down, Kagome taking a place behind him to observe his wound more closely.

It was worse from behind. It was obviously a wound made from the back and the hole was wider from that angle. There was more blood from that side, too. In fact, when Kagome took her hands away, they were covered in a thick layer of bright crimson. InuYasha winced.

"Wh-what... happened here?" she inquired breathlessly, quite sure that she felt her lunch rising in her throat.

"I got hit," he replied, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Well, duh!" she cried. "But by what?!"

"Naraku."

"But you avoided all his—"

"On the _last_ day, I avoided all his attacks. Or have you forgotten that the entire battle lasted seven days?"

To this Kagome couldn't reply. So she changed the subject.

"We're going back to Kaede's," she announced. "You need immediate medical attention."

"I'm _fine_!"

--

Sesshoumaru suddenly jumped to his feet, abandoning his task of "shucking" corn, though why it was called this, he had no clue. But there was a strong smell of blood in the direction InuYasha and Kagome went. A second later, he was sure that it was InuYasha's blood he smelled.

"Lord Sesshoumaru?" Rin inquired, discarding the husks of corn she was peeling off. "Is something the matter?"

"Stay here, Rin," he ordered. With that he vanished after his half-brother and his rebellious mate.

--

"I told you, I'm fine!" InuYasha was yelling. Kagome paid him no mind, busying herself with finding medicinal herbs. "Would you stop it? I'll be O—"he cut himself off with a wince.

"You'll be what? Dead within the hour?" The sudden appearance of Sesshoumaru caused Kagome to jump and InuYasha to growl.

"Just what the hell do you think _you're_ doing here?" InuYasha demanded.

"Are you aware of just how much blood you've lost already?" the stoic youkai asked. "I could smell it all the way down in the village, among the reek of humans."

"Hey!" Kagome cried. Sesshoumaru glanced at her, then turned back to InuYasha.

"If even your mate realizes that you need help, then you _certainly _need it. Have you become so ignorant that you would die to save face?"

InuYasha jumped to his feet, but swayed unsteadily once there. "I—"he couldn't finish his sentence, and reeled back until he was leaning against a tree for support. He shook his head as if to clear it, and tried to glare at Sesshoumaru. But the best he could do was staring at the blur with the bigger blur on its shoulder.

Kagome yelped in dismay as InuYasha collapsed. Sesshoumaru was there in a second, catching him before he hit the ground. He motioned for Kagome to follow him, and they headed off toward the village once again.

---

Ta-da!! There's chapter four! I'm kinda disappointed because the latest chapters are so short, but maybe they'll be more because they're shorter, you never know.

Ja matte.


	6. 5:Mirrored Actions and a Chance of Death

Disclaimers: I have realized that it is senseless to dream of owning InuYasha and company. Instead I have another dream: Actually finishing this fic!

I also do not know the specific names of the clothing of feudal Japan, so please just roll with it for now. .;;

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter 5  
Mirrored Actions and a Chance of Death  
---  
I have set my life upon a cast, and I will stand the hazard of the die.  
-- Shakespeare, 'Richard III,'  
---

"What happened?" Kaede demanded as soon as Sesshoumaru arrived carrying an unconscious InuYasha. "He was fine not ten minutes ago."

"He reopened a wound," Kagome announced, "while he was trying to chop firewood. He fainted from blood loss."

Kaede made a humming, contemplative sound as she gathered several herbs. Sesshoumaru laid the half-demon on one of the straw sleeping mats, and removed his upper yukata. It seemed that the wound had gotten worse.

Suddenly Sesshoumaru stiffened, and angrily whirled on Kagome. The girl flinched. "This is _your_ fault!" he roared. Kagome took a step back.

"No!" she protested. "I would never do anything to—I couldn't have—I don't—"

"You _fool_!" he shouted. "You return the mark! If it weren't for you, he could have healed this already!" Sesshoumaru looked down at InuYasha, almost startled.

InuYasha had grabbed Sesshoumaru's ankle, and was trying desperately to focus on the youkai lord's face. "Leave her alone," he said hoarsely. "She didn't know."

"W-w-wha-what if I do it now?" Kagome asked. "Then—"

"No!" Sesshoumaru interrupted her. "To do it now would me certain death! He wouldn't survive the process!"

"Process?" Sango inquired. "I knew nothing of the 'processes' behind the bites."

"You think it's just a bite?" Kouga intervened loudly. "Dammit, _mating_ is an entire process, starting with the marks! They open up a link between the two and hold them together!"

Miroku was confused, and it showed on his face. Sesshoumaru set out to clarify the wolf's explanation: "Think of it as making a connection through the soul. Just as InuYasha's teeth have pierced Kagome's flesh, his soul has—in effect—entered her soul. The energy that goes into such a mark takes such a toll on the mind and—most importantly—the body cannot be maintained by one side alone. The mark has to be mirrored, or else the output becomes too great."

"And... if the mark _isn't_ mirrored?" Shippo wanted to know, chopsticks halfway to his mouth.

Kouga answered. "Healing becomes less effective, and eventually... death."

--

That night, Sesshoumaru stood guard outside, as did Kouga—who was feeling much better after he had seen InuYasha's injuries. Rin and Shippo were curled up against Kilalla, and Sango was just out of arm's reach of Miroku. Kaede was asleep leaning against a wall, several herbs scattered around her. She had fallen asleep while trying to compose a salve to stop InuYasha's bleeding. Said bleeding was slower now, but hadn't been stopped.

Kagome couldn't sleep. She originally lay beside InuYasha, holding his hand. Then she became restless and sat up. She sorely wished she could help, but both Sesshoumaru _and_ Kouga had told her she shouldn't. She shifted uncomfortably about the way they both had looked at her, almost pityingly and angrily at the same time, like she should have done something but didn't know that she was supposed to. In truth, that was what happened.

"Kagome..." InuYasha said weakly. She nearly jumped.

"Y-yeah?" she replied. "What is it? Are you alright?"

A bitter smile worked its way onto InuYasha's face, and a matching bark of laugher erupted from his throat. "Not really," he admitted.

It took supreme willpower for Kagome to keep from bursting out crying. "What's bothering you? Maybe I can help."

"Well, for one, I can't feel my arm," he began, "and the smell of my own blood is getting to me." It was then that Kagome noticed that he looked a bit too pale. "And I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Could I... would you mind if I lay on your lap?"

A certain flashback of a weakened human InuYasha asking that same question entered Kagome's mind. "Err," she stammered. "Sure." She shifted so that InuYasha's head was propped on her lap, and watched his eyes slowly drift closed. "Is that any better?" she inquired.

A sleepy groan came from the back of InuYasha's throat. "A lot better," he acknowledged. "Thanks."

Something was nagging at the back of Kagome's mind. It took her a minute to work up enough courage to voice it. "InuYasha..." he replied with a tired grunt, showing he was paying attention. "Why didn't you tell be about... the mating process?"

InuYasha frowned for a moment, contemplating how to explain himself. "I... had to clear things up in my own head, first. After all... I _did_ mark you while I was in my youkai form. I had to get that through my head that there was... no more waiting." Kagome imagined Shippo saying something to the tune of 'hope it didn't take too long,' but she squashed that part of her mind for the moment. She was trying to comfort InuYasha right now, not ridicule him.

"Then... if I marked you right now... would you really die?"

He had to think about that for a moment. "They said that?"

"Yeah."

"And they know that how?"

"Uh..."

"Have you noticed that neither of them have mates yet?"

"I..."

"So who's to say they're right?"

"Who's to say they're wrong?"

"Good point."

Kagome blinked.

Within a few minutes, InuYasha was back to sleep, and Kagome's questions were more-or-less answered. InuYasha didn't seem to think that the returned mark could kill him, but Sesshoumaru and Kouga certainly did. But if InuYasha didn't get better, then he would eventually die from blood loss or one of the other infected injuries they discovered. And if returning the mark could save him... even at the risk that he'd die... Well, if he wasn't going to get better without the mark and if the mark ran a chance that he'd die...

But at least with the mark he had a chance of living.

Steeling her never, Kagome bent over InuYasha's failing body...

Outside, the two youkai could smell more of InuYasha's blood. Thinking that his bleeding had just gotten worse, they ignored it.

The bleeding from InuYasha's piercing wound began to stop.

---

Surprisingly I got this all done in one shot. That's a big deal for me.

Ja ne, minna-san.


	7. 6: Impending Doom

Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha and co. Never have, most likely never will. But what an otaku dream. sigh

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Six  
Impending Doom  
---

That morning, Miroku was the first to wake. He managed to drag his sluggishly responding body into a sleeping position, and blearily looked around the comfortably cool hut. Sango was next to him--though whether he moved closer to her or she moved closer to him, he didn't know—and there were the shadows of Kouga and Sesshoumaru outside. Shippo, Rin, and Kilalla were curled up in one of the far corners. Kaede still slumbered against a wall, herbs in total disarray around her, as if she had shifted in her sleep and disturbed several piles. InuYasha and Kagome were nestled together, Kagome curled on InuYasha's folded legs with her arms around his middle, and his arms keeping her close to him as he leaned against her. '_Strange_,' he thought. '_Where has Jaken gotten_—-?'

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as his vision swerved back to InuYasha and Kagome. They were quite far away from the place InuYasha lay dieing last night. The bloody mat had been cleaned, and not too recently. Miroku was suddenly fully awake and standing, making his way outside to confront the two guarding youkai. On his way out, he took to note that InuYasha's wound was completely healed over, without so much as a scar left to tell of his near-death experience. He didn't even notice that the shallow bite mark had scarred, and not anything else.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Miroku exclaimed as he left the hut. "Kouga! Did you notice any... thing... strange... last night?" His voice squeaked into a high pitch on the last word of his sentence as he noticed that Kouga was slumped against the wall of the hut, asleep. And there were dark circles under Sesshoumaru's eyes. It hadn't occurred to Miroku that even a lord youkai wore down just as any human. He brushed this aside; there were more pressing matters to attend to. "Lord Sesshoumaru, did you happen to notice anything out of the ordinary last night?"

Sesshoumaru managed to give the monk a tired glace. "InuYasha stopped bleeding. I did not enter. Kagome cleaned up the blood." A thoughtful hand went to Miroku's chin as he pondered this. "What happened?"

"I believe Kagome might have bitten InuYasha..."

There was a breeze that nearly knocked Miroku off his feet. He blinked a few times; those kinds of winds were odd for this month... He was going to ask Sesshoumaru another question, but he discovered the youkai was missing. He hurried inside, where Sesshoumaru was indeed standing, looking at InuYasha. In the corner, Rin grumbled and woke up. She beamed at the sight of Sesshoumaru.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" she cried happily. Then she saw his expression. "Is something wrong?"

--

_You foolish girl._

Not this again...

_You could have let InuYasha die! Why didn't you?!_

You might not get it, but I _love_ InuYasha. I don't _want_ him to die.

_He is supposed to come to hell with me! How can he do that if you're keeping him alive?_

That's the thing; you don't.

_Why you... you will pay for this._

I don't think that'll be any time soon.

_We will see._

--

Kagome was abruptly jerked away from InuYasha by her shirt collar. She was immediately awake. Sesshoumaru lifted her clear of the ground by at least three inches. InuYasha, too, snapped awake, and was on his feet.

"What do you think you're doing, Sesshoumaru??" he demanded. "Put her down, _now_!!"

"Do you really think I would take orders from you, _little brother_?" Sesshoumaru glared. InuYasha glared right back. "I told her not to. She didn't listen."

"And if she _had_ listened to you, I'd probably be _dead_ by now!" InuYasha barked back, his ears flattening against his head. "Did it ever go through your head that you might be _wrong_ sometimes?!"

"Even if I was wrong, she still disobeyed me."

Kagome had had enough of staying silent now. "So I get punished for saving InuYasha's life?!" she screamed. "Put me down right _now_!! I'm warning you...!" She kicked and punched and flailed in the air, but Sesshoumaru's grip was like iron. InuYasha growled, and launched to attack Sesshoumaru. The assault was easily avoided.

"You bastard!" InuYasha shouted. "Put Kagome down and let's _settle_ this already!"

Suddenly Kagome shuddered, her entire body going limp. Sesshoumaru watched her out of the corner of his eye, but did not take his attention off InuYasha. Jaken was in an uproar, but didn't think using the Staff of Heads would be a good idea. It might get InuYasha to back off a little, but burning down the hut with himself and Sesshoumaru still inside didn't sound very appealing. Not to mention he'd have to drag Rin out of the blaze. That didn't sound good, either. He considered biting InuYasha, but his head was lumpy enough. That and he didn't want the taste of a half-demon lingering in his mouth.

Everyone's attention went to Kagome. Her shoulders were tensing up, and there was a surge of magical energies swirling around her. Without warning, InuYasha reeled back, clutching the bite mark on his shoulder.

Sesshoumaru let go of Kagome with a painful, involuntary cry. Kagome landed on her knees, her head bowed to hide her eyes.

Kagome stood abruptly, glaring at Sesshoumaru with watery grey eyes. Only, it wasn't Kagome.

"You will pay for your impudence!!" Kagome yelled with Kikyou's voice.

---

Ja ne, minna-san.


	8. 7: Hiding in Plain Sight

Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha or any related characters.

Enjoy!

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Seven  
Hiding in Plain Sight  
---

_Sesshoumaru_ _let_ _go_ _of_ _Kagome_ _with_ _a_ _painful_, _involuntary_ _cry_. _Kagome_ _landed_ _on_ _her_ _knees_, _her_ _head_ _bowed_ _to_ _hide_ _her_ _eyes_.

_Kagome_ _stood_ _abruptly_, _glaring_ _at_ _Sesshoumaru_ _with_ _watery_ _grey_ _eyes_. _Only_, _it_ _wasn't_ _Kagome_.

"_You_ _will_ _pay_ _for_ _your_ _impudence!!"_ _Kagome_ _yelled_ _with_ _Kikyou's_ _voice_.

InuYasha stared in grim fascination at the scene he saw before him. He was all but frozen in shock and fear. He seemed to be making the connections at rapid speeds, and faster than that of anyone else. Maybe it had something to do with the Mark being raw. Whatever it was, he didn't know nor care. All he knew was that this woman that was _not_ Kagome, and _not_ the woman he loved. He knew that, and that it hurt.

The Marks linked the souls of mates. InuYasha's soul was still trying to maintain that link with someone that was not his mate, and because of it his own mark felt like it was on fire. The Mark didn't take time to look at the situation and decide if it was acceptable or not. If, for example, the male tried to mate with two females, the first mark would flare up and actually kill the male if the second female tried to mark him. And if he tried marking two females, he wouldn't be killed by the Mark, he'd die of exhaustion of trying to maintain an unrequited Mark. In a way, the Marks kept mates from cheating on each other.

"Kikyou" turned and looked at InuYasha, who had to lean against a wall for support. Her eyes were dark and haunted, not at all Kagome.

Even though it wasn't really Kagome, the sight of Kagome's face contorted in hatred and directed at him made his chest ache. Kouga managed to get up on his feet. He snuck up behind the Not-Kagome-Kagome and pulled one arm behind her back, kicking her in the back of the knee so that she fell to the ground. She was scarcely three inches from hitting the floor when she realized what had happened.

Kouga kept a hold of her arm, and placed his foot between her shoulder blades, keeping her in a quite effective -- albeit indecent -- submissive hold. "I don't know who you are," he announced to the possessed Kagome, "but you can't stay _here_!"

In a flash, Kouga was knocked flat on his ass by a very angry InuYasha, who stood almost panting.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Kouga demanded.

"Kagome's still IN there, you bloody idiot!" InuYasha yelled at the top of his lungs. Suddenly InuYasha was flattened. "Kikyou" had grabbed his ankle and jerked his leg out from underneath him. But she didn't touch him after that. It was only Kaede that noticed the burn on "Kikyou's" hand.

Kikyou was just about to make Kagome say something, but Kaede beat her to it. "InuYasha!" she shouted as Kikyou made a dash for a quiver of arrows in a corner of the room. Sango and Miroku moved to block her, but she knocked them away with her miko powers. Sesshoumaru and Kouga didn't even bother to try, knowing they'd meet a similar fate. "Take a hold of Kagome! Don't let her go!"

It took a lot of strength and willpower for InuYasha to sit up. Kikyou, by this time, had reached the arrows and was aiming at Sesshoumaru, intent on carrying out her vengeance for the indignity he had caused her. The first arrow was easily avoided. "What good with that do?" InuYasha wanted to know, even though his voice was failing him.

"Kikyou was forced back from Kagome's hand when she touched ye!" Kaede explained quickly. "If ye can reach Kagome by touching her, then get her and don't let go!"

Shippo, who had been staying next to Kilalla, bounded up to Kagome's leg and tugged on her sock with his teeth, trying to get her attention. Kagome looked down at him for a moment, but then it was Kikyou again. She tried to kick the kit off, but he held on tight. This gave InuYasha a chance to get to his feet and tackle Kagome to the ground, knocking the arrows and bow out of her hands, and pinning her under his body.

Kikyou struggled like mad to stay in control, but in the end was won out. Kagome relaxed, wrapping her arms around his back and clinging to him. "InuYasha..." she shivered. "What happened?"

---

Woo, I'm in rare form today. o.O (Well, I was on the day I posted/wrote this. Because I found all my chapters from before my computer was cleared. I posted the original ch. 3: Trash Talk on mediaminer as an omake. If you want to read it, it's there. Be warned: Some mautre content!)

Ja ne, minna-san.


	9. 8: Binding Spell

Disclaimers: I don't own InuYasha or any other copyrighted characters.

A/N: These transaction scenes might seem a little choppy, but I'm doing my best here.

And whatever sick thoughts you may have while you're reading one of the scenes in here, think twice. I'm trying to keep this PG-13, people!! Though if there was a way to make it PG-14, I could let go a little more with the language... regretful sigh

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Eight  
Binding Spell  
---

It took a while to explain the Mark's effect on everyone. It took even longer to explain how Kagome could be possessed by Kikyou. All in all, it was a very draining afternoon. Sesshoumaru and Kouga tried to explain the effects of youkai mating, and as a result, several nights of confusion were spared.

Presently, Kagome was sitting with her legs folded on her bed, staring at the two halves of the Shikon no Tama. Her arms were also folded, her elbows leaning on her knees. InuYasha was curled around her, fast asleep. He had been sleeping a lot after they pushed back Kikyou. Of course, Kouga and Sesshoumaru explained this.

InuYasha was using his soul to push back Kikyou's consciousness through the mark. This was taxing, and he needed plenty of rest. Sesshoumaru was the one that guessed that he would be back to normal in a week if she wasn't able to absorb that part of her soul completely or begin to suppress Kikyou herself. She was relieved to know that InuYasha would be back to normal in a week, but she was beginning to get impatient. Not to mention youkai were coming left and right to try and steal one of the pieces of the jewel. Everyone decided that it would be easier for InuYasha and Kagome to wait out the week in Kagome's era.

That was why they were in Kagome's era in Kagome's house in Kagome's room on Kagome's bed, and why InuYasha was coiled around her, sleeping.

They had to figure out a way to merge the two halves of the Shikon no Tama, or else Kikyou would always be a threat. Just as Kagome's life was tied to the jewel since birth, so was Kikyou's once it came into her possession. There had to be a spell somewhere that would bind the two pieces together. If they didn't find it soon, InuYasha was going to get them both killed by trying to protect his mate. If he defended her from a youkai, his attention was divided, and Kikyou's submission was compromised. If he concentrated on the submission "hold," the youkai would get to them.

It was because of this that Sesshoumaru and Kouga declared that they would stick around until they could merge the Shikon no Tama into one piece. They brainstormed several ideas, but none seemed to work...

-:-

"_How_ _are_ _we_ _gonna_ _do_ _this?"_ _InuYasha_ _wondered_ _aloud,_ _Kagome_ _nestled_ _comfortably_ _in_ _his_ _lap_ _and_ _all_ _but_ _hidden_ _behind_ _his_ _large_ _sleeves_. _Shippo_ _was_ _covered_ _by_ _said_ _sleeves_ _as_ _he_ _snoozed_ _in_ _Kagome's_ _arms_.

_Kilalla_ _mewed_ _on_ _Sango's_ _shoulder,_ _and_ _almost_ _seemed_ _to_ _shrug_. _Kagome_ _suddenly_ _remembered_ _something_.

"_Ne,_ _InuYasha?"_ _she_ _inquired_ _to_ _get_ _his_ _attention_.

"_Hm?"_ _InuYasha_ _replied_.

"_Do_ _you_ _remember_ _the_ _spiderhead_ _youkai?"_ _The_ _answer_ _she_ _received_ _was_ _a_ _growl_ _that_ _vibrated_ _against_ _her_ _back_. _"Well,_ _when_ _the_ _youkai_ _swallowed_ _the_ _shards,_ _they_ _were_ _whole_ _when_ _we_ _got_ _them_ _back_."

"_Oh,_ _yeah,"_ _Kouga_ _scoffed,_ _"let's_ _just_ _go_ _hand_ _the_ _entire_ _jewel_ _to_ _some_ _random_ _demon_ _and_ _say,"_ _--_ _he_ _imitated_ _a_ _high,_ _squeaky_ _voice,_ _supposedly_ _Kagome_ _--_ _"'Here,_ _mister_ _youkai,_ _sir,_ _could_ _you_ _swallow_ _these_ _jewel_ _pieces_ _and_ _then_ _spit_ _them_ _back_ _out_ _for_ _us_ _so_ _I_ _can_ _get_ _my_ _psychotic_ _previous_ _life_ _under_ _control?'_ _Pff_. _You_ _know_ _what_ _the_ _youkai_ _would_ _do?_ _It'd_ _swallow_ _the_ _damn_ _thing_ _and_ _run_ _off._ _And_ _we'd_ _have_ _no_ _way_ _of_ _catching_ _it."_

_Kagome_ _pouted_ _a_ _bit_ _as_ _InuYasha_ _glared_ _at_ _Kouga_. _"I_ _guess_ _that_ _idea's_ _out,_ _then."_

"_There_ _must_ _be_ _a_ _miko_ _somewhere_ _in_ _this_ _land_ _that_ _knows_ _a_ _simple_ _bondage_ _spell,"_ _Sesshoumaru_ _announced_ _his_ _thoughts_ _monotonously._

_This_ _earned_ _him_ _a_ _glare_ _from_ _the_ _elderly_ _miko_ _attending_ _the_ _fire._ _"'Simple'_ _is_ _hardly_ _the_ _word_ _I_ _would_ _use_ _for_ _it,"_ _Kaede_ _barked_.

-:-

The rest of the conversation had pretty much followed the same lines, Kagome reflected. Someone would come up with an idea, and someone else would shoot it down.

Swearing InuYasha's laziness was contagious, Kagome lightly shook her mate awake. "Mm... mmwah?" he said drowsily. Kagome smiled.

"Hey," she whispered. "Move over so I can lay down, too."

--

Miroku burst into the hut, nearly ripping the matt off the frame. His face was flushed with excitement, and he was panting like he had just been running. Sango looked up from where she was chopping vegetables for the stew Kaede was making. Shippo was at once awake and on all fours, tail fluffed out in agitation. Miroku entered the hut further, eager to tell everyone what he'd heard. InuYasha nudged Kagome awake. She blinked in his lap, and turned to Miroku.

"I have wonderful news!" he announced. Sango put down the knife she was using, and Shippo calmed down. Kirara bounded in after Miroku in her kitty form, and nuzzled into Sango's lap. Kaede remained calm. "There's someone that can bind together the two halves of the Shikon no Tama!"

Kagome was now fully awake and attentive. "Who? Where? How? When can we leave? How long will it take to get there? What--" InuYasha cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand. She had a million questions, but they had to wait.

"A miko to the east," Miroku began, sitting next to Sango near the fire pit. "She is only an apprentice to a sage, but she has enormous talent and potential. They're a good week's distance away, and according to the rumor, there's always a price. If we have to take things with us, I would gauge about a week and a half's time."

Before Kagome could even begin to ask her other questions, there was a shout of alarm from several people of the village. In stumbled two men holding a young boy between them. The boy looked like he had been to hell and back. "Lady Kaede!" one of the village men panted. It obviously took more effort than it looked like to hold up the boy, even with his weight split between the two. "He was found just outside the village. We think he was attacked by youkai!"

Kaede was on her feet as quickly as she was able. She directed the two men into another room, where she could attend to the boy. His hakama was all that was left of his clothes, and even that was torn beyond repair, and left just enough for him to be remotely descent. His upper body was riddled with cuts, scrapes, bruises and blood. His breathing was labored, his face contorted in pain.

Kagome huddled into InuYasha's arms, now suddenly silent. She was all but lost behind his large sleeves. InuYasha frowned at the door Kaede was behind. She took the basin with her, which was already full of water and accompanied by a clean cloth. She would have brought the jar of healing herbs, but that had been broken on Kouga's head. Instead she took a small box with the herbs inside it. The sliding door closed behind her.

Shippo leaped under InuYasha's large red sleeves to hide in Kagome's lap. Kirara stood facing the door, bristling. Miroku and InuYasha shared a look. They, too, had sensed it. The presence of a youkai.

"What do you suppose happened to him?" Sango inquired quietly, gauging how far away and how quickly she could grab hiraikotsu. The vegetables and stew were quickly forgotten. "Could it really have been a youkai that attacked him?"

"No," Miroku stated, the lilt of excitement gone from his voice. "He wasn't attacked."

Sango frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"He means," InuYasha growled, curling around Kagome and Shippo, "that he was in an actual youkai fight for dominance. It could be dangerous to keep him here."

"But the wounds seemed days old," Miroku pointed out. "Several were already healed where there was blood."

InuYasha nodded. "He escaped."

They sat in silence for a while, and the two men that carried the boy in left. A few minutes later, there was a shattering sound. Kaede cried out in alarm, and the injured boy stumbled to the door and managed to get it open. But the price of doing so was losing his footing and falling to his knees, clinging to the doorway for support. InuYasha's hand immediately went to the tetsusaiga, holding Kagome close. Shippo burrowed under Kagome's shirt to hide further away from the boy. If Kagome wasn't hidden in a sea of red cloth, she wouldn't have let him do so because it was indecent.

Sango went for hiraikotsu, and Miroku jumped to his feet. The boy's hair, which was black when he entered the hut, was now a white that seemed to have blue hues in it. His eyes were glowing green, claws adorning the ends of his fingers. He panted with the effort it took to stay up. Sango prepared to strike, and Kirara transformed in a blaze of light and heat. The youkai boy held up a hand in an attempt to placate the group. Kaede sat in the corner of the other room, glaring holes in the youkai's back.

"Wa... wait..." he panted. "I came here... not... not to... to fight," he struggled. As he spoke, his claws turned back into human nails. "I am here to... to ask of you... your... your assistance."

Sango indicated her boomerang. "You are in no position to make requests," she said harshly.

Miroku nodded, in a defensive position. "You deceived us to gain our presence. We don't even know your name nor what you really are."

"Ri... Riku," he struggled, trying to rise to his feet. "M-my name i-is Riku. I'm not... a youkai."

"Nor are ye human," Kaede commented angrily.

Riku shook his head. "I'm a shapeshifter," he explained. "I can... I can be... whatever I want." InuYasha drew his sword, pushing Kagome behind him as he stood. "No, p-p-please," he begged. "I-I'm in n-no condition to... to fight back."

"Who was it that did this to you?" Kagome demanded from behind InuYasha, peeking over his shoulder.

"Kiy... Kiyo... Kiyoshi. Another shapeshifter." Riku's knees shook, and he fell again, but this time to a sitting position. "Please, you have to... to help me. My whole village... will be destroyed."

"A village of bloodthirsty shapeshifting youkai!" Shippo piped up.

A ripple of power coursed throughout the room, a result of Riku's change. He didn't change his appearance from what it was, but he puffed himself up, held himself higher, possibly made his legs longer in order to seem that way. Riku's -- or any shapeshifter's -- technique was to bluff as much as possible. Make yourself look tougher and maybe your opponent will back off. Maybe. It was more of an instinct to defend his village's honor than an actual challenge.

"Bloodthirsty only in war, shapeshifting, yes, youkai, never for real!" he raged. Like Kouga, he was a proud member of his clan. His anger gave him better stability, allowed him to stand on his own. "You only speak so bold because you have your friends to protect you! You couldn't last a week on your own! You're still a kit! You don't know the real cause and price behind war, famine, sacrifice! Know your place before you boast!"

"Shippo," InuYasha growled low, only enough for the kit to hear.

"Yeah?" Shippo replied in the same way. "What?"

"Shut up." Shippo was about to protest this before InuYasha continued. "Injured or not, he could become something to gobble any of us in an instant. Understand?" Shippo nodded. Sure, InuYasha felt bad about Shippo being talked down to after all that the kit had gone through, but Riku had a point. It was his friends that backed him up, and he had never fought a real kitsune's battle. He felt even worse, though, about that. About not being able to stand up for him. But that would have only made Riku's point all the more clear. Shippo had to learn to fight on his own, but that didn't mean InuYasha had to be _happy_ about it.

Just as quickly as Riku had stood, he fell again. This provoked several intriguing questions.

"Just who is Kiyoshi?" InuYasha inquired, sheathing the tetsusaiga and releasing some of the thick tension in the room.

Riku relaxed visibly, and until then no one really realized he was tensed. "Kiyoshi is my intended mate," he admitted. InuYasha raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Your _intended_ did this to you?" Kagome asked flatly from behind him, though not hiding as much as before.

"Sounds suspiciously like a certain relation ship I know of," Miroku chuckled to himself. Sango glared at him.

"Kiyoshi means quiet, right?" InuYasha said. "This don't look very 'quiet' to me..."

Riku smiled bitterly at the irony of it all. "Sure as hell wasn't."

"Don't youkai have fights for dominance all the time?" Shippo inquired.

"I'M-- NOT-- A-- REAL-- YOUKAI!!" Riku shouted, enraged. His eyes flashed in anger. "SHAPESHIFTER!! NOT YOUKAI!! THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE!!!"

"You're a shapeshifting youkai," Kagome pointed out. Riku didn't reply.

"Are you going to help me or not...?" he said cautiously after a while.

InuYasha tossed his head to the side and gave Riku a condescending look. "Sorry, kid, but we got other business to do."

"You're going to bind the Shikon no Tama together, right?" The group faltered for a moment. "The miko you want is Taiyo. Kiyoshi is her friend, and if you can stop Kiyoshi's rampaging, she'll do anything for you."

Miroku got up close to Riku and gave him a shrewd look. "And just -how- would you know -that-? Experience?"

Riku glared right back at him. "Who wants to know?"

"She'd do anything?" Miroku continued.

Riku bashed him with the basin that was sitting behind him, and it broke with the force of the blow. "She has her morals!!!!" He sat back down. Sango smashed Miroku's head further with hiraikotsu, and sat down in a huff near the far wall, chopping vegetables again. "Besides, she's mated to Sait."

Shippo broke in. "Wait, wait, wait. Mated?? I thought she was a miko!!"

The shapeshifter heaved a heavy sigh. "Perhaps you should let me explain for a moment..."

--

A while later, when Riku was comfortably seated in the corner of the room and everyone had had a warm bowl of the stew (and after Riku was supplied with new clothing), the explanation would begin. Riku would allow them all to ask him questions, and he would answer them to the best of his ability, and perhaps even give them a visual. Though the visuals never lasted very long due to Riku's current weakness, they got the point across.

"Now," Miroku began, sitting next to Sango, but out of arm's reach. "You said that this miko-- Taiyo, you said-- was -mated- to a man named Sait. Yet she is also a miko. Tell us, how is this possible?"

The boy settled into a comfortable form, that of a blue-ish-silver haired boy with green eyes that nearly glowed in the dim lighting. He kept his claws as a pure security thing, and covered himself with a fine layer of flesh-colored fur. It took close inspection to see it, but it was there once you noticed it. "Did you think that only humans could be mikos? How shallow." (He often commented to himself with two-word phrases like that. He could not seem to keep his thoughts to himself.) "Taiyo is half human and half kitsune youkai. So is Sait. To make them even more rare than kit-hanyous, they're both white. Sait has the northern lights running through his veins. His mother was the queen of the arctic kitsune clan up in the arctic. Taiyo descended from a red kitsune youkai and a human. The human was also red-headed. She's white from her purity of heart. It's really quite amazing how she kept her sanity through all she's conquered."

"And just what is so amazing?" Kaede asked suspiciously.

"She's witnessed her village, of kitsune youkai, get slaughtered by a war band. She saw her mother, father, elder brother, all die. She had a younger sister, too. Sait met up with her in the chaos and said he would take care of the younger kit, and told her to run. Later she came back and her sister was dead. Sait did his best, but it wasn't enough. She traveled with him for a while, and she was quiet. They got back, got separated, Tai met Kiyoshi, found Sait again, killed the guy that staged Sait's death, and settled back down in her old village, and now she's focusing on rebuilding it. The village is the guarding post for one of the gates of Heaven and Hell, and she doesn't want to remember it all demolished when she dies. She doesn't want the last thing that the souls of the dead remember of Earth to be of a wasteland, either. The amazing thing is that she's remained unchanged, untouched, pure and chaste throughout all of it. Sixty years. Not long for a youkai or hanyou, but a considerable amount of time to suffer."

"She's that strong?" Sango questioned.

Riku nodded. "Strong enough to survive, strong enough to cast a spell, strong enough to resist, you name it, she's strong enough."

"Has she ever been defeated?" Shippo inquired.

That required some thought. "Once..." he said slowly, unsure of the answer. "I believe Kiyoshi beat her when they first met. Fighting over the kill of something. I don't know. Kiyoshi won, but she's never lost at -anything-. They're pretty much on the same level, but I think Kiyoshi would have a bit of an edge if she ever fought with everything she had."

"And you survived a woman like that for how long?" Miroku mused. "It must have been torture living with a woman that always won."

"Not as difficult as you might think," Riku shook his head. "She's ignorant for sure, but she's way modest. She thinks little of herself, but she's one person you'd want to avoid getting angry at any costs."

"Just where are they, then?" Kagome wanted to know.

The shapeshifter pondered for a moment. "About a week and a half's journey east." Miroku sent the others a strange look, as if saying, 'See I was right and you doubted me. I'm soooo misunderstood.' No one paid him any mind at all. Not even Riku gave half a grain of rice.

Kaede decided to intrude once more. "What is the relationship between Taiyo and Kiyoshi?"

"Mmm..." Riku hummed in thought. "They're friends, if that's what you mean..."

"What -kind- of friends, though?" Miroku pestered. This earned him a smack from both Riku and Sango, rendering him unconscious.

"Is he -always- like that?" Riku demanded.

"Sometimes," Kagome sighed.

--

Two days later and Riku was completely healed, thanks to Kaede and her healing herbs that were now stuffed into one of Kagome's purses. The jar broke on Kouga's head, the box was demolished with Riku, and the basin was cracked over Miroku's head. She was not having a happy time with the location of her healing herbs. Riku apologized profusely, though, and offered his services wherever she may need them. She made him promise to bring her several storage boxes to keep her herbs, and a new basin.

Sesshoumaru came to escort the little group to their destination. He said he would be the one to kill InuYasha, but in reality he wanted to test his theory on InuYasha's powers. It didn't matter what the cause, though, as long as he didn't kill anyone traveling with them.

Just as they were about to depart, Miroku brought up an interesting point. "How long would it take to get there if we fly?" he asked Riku. Riku was taken aback.

"F-fly?" he stammered. "Uh... I didn't... I mean I've never really thought about... Um..." He cleared his throat, and tried again. "Two.. three days tops, stopping at nights..."

--

"C'mon, Riku, you're falling behind!" Shippo cried, riding on Miroku's shoulder, who in turn was riding Kilalla. Kagome was on InuYasha's back, easily keeping pace with the fire kuma above them.

Riku sped up fractionally, but still wasn't enough to keep up. At the pace they had set, it would take longer than the estimated three days to reach Taiyo's village. It didn't help that Riku didn't jump from tree to tree like InuYasha, but rather ran along the ground. Sango sent a glance to InuYasha, who nodded.

"Kilalla," Sango said abruptly. "Do you think you can manage carrying Riku, as well?"

With an affirmative roar, Kilalla circled back and caught the shapeshifter as he was in midair. He shouted in surprise. He landed behind Miroku, and clung to the monk's back when Kilalla rose into the air. Shippo gave Riku a curious glance.

"What's wrong?" the kit inquired. Riku gulped.

"N-n-nothing!" he insisted a little too cheerfully. Miroku gave him another shrewd look.

"Are you afraid of heights?" he wondered in a dry tone.

Riku shook his head vigorously. "Of course not!"

"Mm-hmm," Sango said dryly.

"Really!" Riku persisted, forcing a smile. Beads of sweat were starting to form on his brow, and his breathing shallowed. "I'm fine!" Hardly two minutes later, he passed out.

---

(Comments have been deleted because they are completely irrelevant)

Ja ne, minna-san.


	10. 9: Heights

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha and company. Sad, but true. Though I think if they were all put up for sale there'd be a hell of a lot of people vying for them. Maybe it's better this way. P

**This chapter basically tells you about Riku and Kiyoshi. They're slightly different from their Hanyou's Mirror personalities. **(Please don't read Hanyou's Mirror just to find out HOW different they are.)

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Nine  
Heights  
---

Riku stirred restlessly, and woke to find himself safely on the ground, and not flying over the treetops on Kilalla. For this he was eternally grateful.

"You're awake," Sango said in a dry tone as she stoked the fire.

"What?" Riku said wearily. "How long was I out for?"

"All day," Sesshoumaru interrupted before Miroku could contribute. The two were coming back to camp from apparently securing the perimeter, and taking care of any annoying youkai that would have disturbed them.

Belatedly, Riku noticed that Kagome was asleep, curled up in a strange sack with Shippo snuggled against her stomach. InuYasha sat on a low branch of the tree that the two were under, quite awake. The glare the young shapeshifter was receiving was highly intimidating, letting the boy know that his delay was_ hardly_ tolerated. It was publicly known from that moment on that any delay in their quest to merge the Shikon no Tama-- and merge Kagome with the psychotic witch that was Kikyou-- would be punished. Whether it was verbal, physical, or mental retribution, the deed would not go unnoticed.

This time, though, a new voice broke the tension that was forming between InuYasha and Riku. It was not one that InuYasha would have tolerated not that long ago, but now he seemed more... passable was the only word Miroku could come up with.

"Lookit, the ickle shapeshifter's afraid of heights," Kouga teased, coming to a flying stop just before the embarrassed Riku.

"I am not!" Riku argued, rising to his feet. "I was just-- just-- weary! From all the wounds I had!"

Kouga snorted. "Riiight." The way he drawled out the words clearly displayed that he didn't believe him.

"Shut up," InuYasha snapped at them both. "Before you wake Kagome." Kouga flinched at the threat hiding in InuYasha's words.

Heaving a sigh, Sango said, "Is it so much to ask that we get some sleep? It's nearly nightfall."

Curiously, Riku looked up. He'd never been out for so long before. He wondered if it was because he really _was_ weary from his previous wounds, or whether he was regressing. The last time he'd been unconscious for over two hours because of his fear of heights, he was hardly more than a scrawny kid with an undecided shape.

How long he looked at the darkening sky, he had no idea, but when he looked back down, Sango and Miroku were asleep-- though out of arms-reach of each other-- and Sesshoumaru had disappeared, probably to sleep somewhere away from the "stench of humans". Kouga seemed quite content to sleep propped against a tree. With a sigh, Riku assumed a similar position, but stared up at the sky once again.

Letting his mind wander, he completely forgot about the people he was leading to Taiyo, and about coming to them with that proposal in the first place. For a long while, all he could think about was Kiyoshi.

Idly, he wondered why no one had asked as to the reason that Kiyoshi _was_ rampaging. Not that he could have answered them to their liking, but he knew it had something to do with that odd hanyou that strayed back into Taiyo's village one day. He was willing to bet that it was only because he was part human.

-:-

_Riku stared at Kiyoshi as she napped on the sandy shore, fingers laced behind her head. She took the form of a human girl with onyx waist-length hair and blue bangs that presently blew about her face in the soft beach breeze._

_He admired her, that was for sure, and he was amazed when their parents had announced that he was betrothed to her. She was practically a legend in the hidden Shapeshifter Village, and was respected by everyone. She was a veritable guardian of the village._

_After all, it wasn't every shapeshifter that could keep the form of a human for as long as she, or shift as smoothly as she could. He wished he could compare himself to her, but desperately fell short._

_After the announced betrothal, Kiyoshi spent more and more time with Taiyo, her best friend. Unfortunately, Taiyo lived a good distance away, and other villagers were forced to take up the position of guardians in her-- often impromptu-- absences. It only took a few days for Riku to start following her, afraid that she would stop coming back._

_While at Taiyo's village, Kiyoshi helped repair the houses, and plant several gardens. Her time was equally split between Sait and Taiyo, the two sole inhabitants of that village. He often wondered what the draw of that village was, and was determined to find out._

_After five days of following her to and from their home village, Kiyoshi finally confronted Riku._

"_Alright," she said with an annoyed tone as she headed back home one day. She suddenly whirled around, glaring in the general direction of Riku's hiding spot. "You can come out, you jerk. I know you've been tailing me."_

_Quite embarrassed, Riku emerged from his place of concealment, holding the twig that ultimately spelt his downfall._

"_So you figured it out, ne?" he said bashfully. She only glared more._

"_If you weren't so chicken-shit, it probably would have taken me longer," she declared. "There's nothing wrong with jumping from tree to tree."_

_He puffed out his chest indignantly. "There's nothing wrong with _walking_, either!"_

_She sighed and rolled her eyes, turning to continue her trek home. "Don't try to hide from me any more, Riku," she growled. "I'd know your scent anywhere."_

"_Even among humans?" he teased, catching up to her. He'd hardly reached her side before she whirled around and punched him squarely on the jaw with enough force to knock him to the ground. She glared something fierce at him._

"_If you_ ever_ comment about humans like that _ever_ again, I _swear_ to you..." she trailed off threateningly, her anger clouding her mind. "I will _never_ forgive you."_

_Confused, Riku could only watch as his intended walk away, a supremely irritated air about her._

"_I'm not gonna be pushed into a mating that casts me as the passive one," she called over her tensed shoulders. "If the time comes, I _will_ fight you for dominance, Riku. Don't you forget it."_

-:-

He sighed again, rubbing his jaw at the memory. Yeah, she was definitely angry that day. She was always so defensive of the human race. No one ever asked about it, just marking it up to her righteous beliefs. Somehow, though, he knew that wasn't the case. He didn't have the guts to pursue it, though. But she hadn't lied about fighting him.

He had to admit she put up a better fight than he had anticipated. The only time that he was able to get away was when she suddenly up and left after a passing scent.

So maybe challenging her for dominance while she was royally angry was a bad idea. But it was the only way he knew that could have delayed her reaching their village and demolishing it. At least she had swerved East after that scent...

It was strange. Kiyoshi hadn't been the only one to detect a new smell. Oddly, he felt like he recognized the scent, but couldn't place it. He should have _known_ that scent, dammit!

Riku sniffed indignantly, positively identifying the smells of the people he was traveling with and the forest they were in. He'd be damned if he forgot any of _their_ scents...

Stubbornly, he lay down and went to sleep, determined to get some rest and stop worrying about his not-so-potential-any-more mate.

After all, it wasn't _her_ fault he was afraid... of heights...

---

I was stuck in a rut, tried to restart the chapter, and ended up making it a filler chapter. Noooo!!! T.T

If you want to know the nit-picking details, you can try IMing me on yahoo as ficauthor or on AIM as IshizuTheHiero. Better luck on yahoo, and better luck when my computer's running... I'll let you know when that is...

Ja ne, minna-san!!


	11. 10: Kitsunes and Kumas

Disclaimers: You wouldn't like it if I owned the Inu-tachi (it took me a while to figure out what that was, and it roughly means "InuYasha's group." Sorry if I've insulted your intelligence). Seriously, you wouldn't want Sesshoumaru bursting into every house in the villager's houses asking for a place to house the Inu-tachi. Someone would likely be a miko or monk or something and singe his head off. . Bad phrasing... singe... Grr...

A/N: Useless bit of information (for the most part); There will be a sequel! I know, only ten chapters in and I'm announcing a sequel. Doesn't sound too good, ne? Well, I've already got the plot all figured out and I'm working on the plot for "TWM2." It won't be called Three Way Mirror 2, but I'll call if that for now because it doesn't have a title yet. XP I'll stop jabbering now.

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Ten  
Kitsunes and Kumas  
---

After making sure that Riku was truly unconscious, they placed him on Kilalla and were off in the direction Riku pointed them in the previous day.

They had been traveling for five days, and only on the third day did they discover the secret to going faster and not waiting for Riku. It wasn't on purpose, either, but it was for the benefit of the entire group. InuYasha was less irritable, Sango had someone between her and Miroku, and Kouga got to vent his frustrations. For Sesshoumaru, he received the gift of less of InuYasha's gripe. Shippo didn't quite benefit, but he could have in the same way as Sesshoumaru.

Kouga and Riku were running along the ground, Kouga practically dragging the shapeshifter behind. The result of this was Riku's tripping almost every ten seconds until the point when Kouga finally just got fed up with the boy and punched him in the head much in the fashion that InuYasha acted toward Shippo. It turned out that Riku wasn't as hard-headed as the kit, and was knocked out. Following the direction the boy had them heading in, they packed him between Sango and Miroku on Kilalla (who hardly noticed the change in weight), mostly because Sango looked about ready to kill Miroku for being especially perverted that day. The monk only claimed to be "making up for lost time."

Presently the groggy shapeshifter's mind swam into consciousness again, and he lifted his head enough to speak. "Oh yeah," he said drowsily as they strolled on foot through the forest; he was still riding Kilalla, though alone this time. "Look out for Taashii."

Before anyone had the chance to question his warning, there was a loud roar that Sango identified as that of a kuma's. She wasn't able to tell anyone else this, though, because just at that moment, a large kuma-- standing at least a third bigger than Kilalla-- bounded out of a cluster of trees to where they stood in the clearing, fur bristling and a vicious snarl on its face. Where Kilalla's flames on her feet were red, this kuma's were blue, and marked it as an ice element. Kilalla bristled as well, though in a non-threatening way.

Unfortunately, attempting to pacify the newcomer had no result. It only caused it to growl, and take several steps closer. Its attention seemed fastened on the shapeshifter that was again out cold. Sesshoumaru edged between the kuma and the others, ready to spring into action should the need arise. Kouga made similar motions, though he didn't get between anyone.

"Taashii?" a girl's voice called. The kuma was suddenly calmed, and its attention was turned behind it. "Why'd you run off?" the same voice continued, sounding closer than before. From between the trees emerged a girl that was deathly pale. Upon further observation, though, they discovered that it was due to fur that covered her from head to toe. Her hair was a likewise white, and hung down to her jaw in gentle waves. What caught them all off-guard, though, was that she had ears. Not human ears, but what looked like fox ears. They were placed where human ears _would_ be, though.

Her smile vanished as if an invisible hand had wiped it off. Replacing her joyful countenance was a confused and somewhat worried expression. Her eyes fell upon Riku. This only etched her frown deeper on her brow.

"Oh," she said, at a loss for words. Just as quickly as her expression had changed the first time, it changed again. She angrily glared at the ice kuma, and stomped her foot. "Taashii! Were you going to _attack_ them?!" she raged. The kuma-- Taashii-- flattened back its ears and hunched slightly as the furry girl rushed up to its side and placed her hand on its back. She turned to the group at the edge of the clearing again.

"Sorry about him," she apologized. From the look on her face, she meant it. "He gets carried away sometimes." This was accompanied by a growl of what seemed like denial from Taashii. She looked at him. "Do too."

Kouga looked at Riku. Disgusted, he pinched his arm. The boy sprang up with a cry of surprise. He glanced around, and, recognizing the area, jumped off Kilalla and ran over to Taiyo. The limp he had acquired from tripping so much was hardly noticeable.

"Miss Taiyo!" he exclaimed. The girl-- Taiyo, as it was-- blinked for a moment, then connected her thoughts. It wasn't to Riku's advantage. That was obvious when she stomped again.

"Riku of the Efáyêth! How _dare_ you take off like that and hunt down Kiyoshi!" she fumed. The heat in her voice nearly gave the silent group verbal whiplash. "And then you just disappeared!! Do you have _any_ idea how long Sait looked for you?"

"Sorry," Riku replied pathetically, "but I heard about these people--"he gestured back toward the group, "--that could help us get Kiyoshi back under control! And all--"

"That doesn't change the fact that you left without warning!" she interrupted. "I _swear_, you're with Kiyoshi too much! You're picking up on bad habits of hers and causing an absolute _uproar_ in your _own_ village!"

"Miss Taiyo, if you'll just let me explain, I--"

Again he was stopped mid-sentence, but this time by an accusing finger pointed warningly at his face. "No! I will _not_ let you explain! Just get your friends to the village as quick as your irresponsible self can, and then maybe _Sait_ will listen to you! But right now, little Efáyêth, I am _not_ in any mood to argue with you about _cruel intentions_!"

Without another word, she hopped astride Taashii, sitting side-saddle. Taashii made an abrupt about-face, and bounded off into the distance. Sheepishly, Riku turned back to the others.

Kagome, Sango, and Shippo all looked stunned at the thorough dressing-down that just took place. Kouga just looked annoyed. And, try as they might to deny it, InuYasha and Sesshoumaru showed the family resemblance with the hands-in-the-sleeves and one eyebrow raised. The comical image was ruined, though, by Sango smacking Miroku across the face. It only roused several sighs from various persons in the clearing, Riku among them.

"So," Kouga growled, breaking the awkward silence that settled around them, "that was her?"

The reply he received was a nod. "Yeah," Riku established. "That's Taiyo. Ever the open book, ever the shocker, eh?" He scratched the line of his jaw, knowing that his reply was weak.

--

"_That's_ why you went off, gallivanting around, acting like you're the supreme ruler of her?" Taiyo exploded once it was explained why Riku left, and why InuYasha and his friends were there. "She could have _killed_ you in her present state of mind, _do you know that_?" The only thing that kept the girl from actually throttling Riku was her mate's hand on her shoulder.

While Taiyo continued to fume, InuYasha turned his gaze to the other kitsune hanyou in the room. He had the same coloration and ears as Taiyo, but his eyes were different. While Taiyo's were a clear light blue, his seemed almost and iridescent shade of ice. In fact, his eyes looked like they could actually _be_ ice. The color, though, was greatly contrasted by the warmth displayed in his gaze, whether he was looking at Taiyo, trying to comfort her or show he understood, or at any of the others, silently apologizing for his mate's behavior.

It didn't occur to InuYasha that Sait's clothing was odd. It was the same style as Miroku's, though a pale shade of blue that was rather rare in that time. It _did_ occur to him, though, that _Taiyo's_ choice of dress was unusual. She wore a similar wrap as Sango, though in the same shade of Sait's robe. For being so chaste, though, her clothing was rather revealing. There were high slits on the sides that only ended halfway up her thigh, and her top was... peculiar. It covered hardly more than Kagome's "chest contraptions," though it seemed to be made of metal. On her shoulders were plates of armor, attached to the straps of her... breastplate, and secured in place by an iron necklace with an aqua-green gem set into it.

Like InuYasha, Kagome, too, was curious about her surroundings, though more in location than company. The part of the village they had walked through hadn't seemed demolished or decrepit at all. Sure it looked a little old, even for the era she was in, but it looked hardly touched at all. Several houses even had gardens of varying sizes, though the house they presently sat in had the largest. It was only natural to assume that it was Taiyo and Sait's home. It seemed the oldest of all the structures. If there really _had_ been destruction in the village, surely this place was the only thing that wasn't ruined.

"You would do best to stay your hand, good monk." Sait's deep voice-- somewhere between Sesshoumaru and Kouga's levels, and laced with deep-seated calm that probably never left-- broke into Kagome's reverie. Automatically her gaze went to Miroku. "I would think that a man chasing enlightenment would be better... mannered." Though his voice held no tone of warning or annoyance, or any negative emotion, it was very real in the way he delivered his sentence. Miroku's hand found its way back to his lap from a scant two inches away from Sango's rear. He couldn't even _fake_ an innocent look. The authority in Sait's voice already told him it would be pointless.

The glare Taiyo gave Riku told him that she wasn't done with him yet, even though she turned her attention to Kagome.

"Miss Kagome," she began, only to have Kagome shake her head.

"Just Kagome is fine," Kagome smiled. Taiyo returned the smile and continued.

"Kagome," she repeated. "How can Kikyou be a problem now if when the jewel was torn from you, you were in complete control of your soul?"

With a sigh, Kagome replied, "First you have to understand that I'm not originally from this era." Taiyo nodded. "The witch Urasue brought Kikyou back to life by stealing my soul. I was able to call most of it back, but Kikyou still held her hatred for InuYasha. When her part of my soul came back to me... something didn't go right, and she has her own consciousness in my mind."

Both Sait and Taiyo wore a shocked expression when Kagome said that she called her soul back to her. "You're sure of this?" Sait wondered aloud. "Can Lady Kikyou communicate with you in your mind?"

Kagome nodded, feeling a little foolish, as if she was admitting to insanity. InuYasha was beside her, though, and discreetly placed his hand over hers. She welcomed the comfort he offered her gratefully.

It was Taiyo's turn to sigh. "If I do merge the jewel," she started carefully, focusing her gaze at the ground. "Are you aware of what might happen?" She could have looked at anyone's face and found the same answer. "It's not a full guarantee that _you_ would be the one to come out on top-- so to speak. I've never heard of-- let alone _dealt_ with a case as original as this one." A glance to Sait revealed that he was in a similar position. "The Mark, of course, would suppress Kikyou if that's what InuYasha truly desires, but _after_ the bonding..." she trailed off with an unsure movement of her hands.

Everyone's attention turned to InuYasha and Kagome. The two shared a long glance, and Kagome announced their decision.

"It's a chance we're willing to take."

---

Ooooh, ominous.

I know, I'm cutting off right when it gets good, ne? Well, if I don't stop here, starting the next chapter will get harder. Sorry.

This is important: PLEASE DO NOT ASK ABOUT THE "EFÁYÊTH" THING! It will be explained in the next chapter, if not the one _after_ the next chapter. I don't want to be accused of ignoring questions, but I will. not. answer. that. question! Sorry to disappoint. You'll just have to wait.

Sorry if I jumped around too much.

Ja ne, minna-san.


	12. 11: I'll Just Stare in Wonder

Disclaimers: I will own the Inu-tachi tomorrow! Woot! It's legal! P Tomorrow! But today they still belong to Takahashi-sensei.

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Eleven  
I'll Just Stare In Wonder  
---

Previously:

_Everyone's attention turned to InuYasha and Kagome. The two shared a long glance, and Kagome announced their decision._

"_It's a chance we're willing to take."_

-:-

Sesshoumaru paused to check the position of the sun and make sure they were heading in the right direction. According to Taiyo, Kiyoshi was heading east. He didn't like to leave his own territory of the west lands, but he was willing to go to extremes to prove his theory. Now, though, the group was joined by Jaken and Rin, who both rode on Ah-Un. He was glad to know they were all safe, but he could have done without the toad imp's constant muttering about traveling with riffraff.

"Oi, Sesshoumaru!" InuYasha called out, coming to a stop. Sesshoumaru paused and turned around to look at his younger brother, causing everyone following them to likewise halt. "Let's take a break, already. Everyone's getting tired." This caused Sesshoumaru to narrow his eyes in suspicion, but it was Jaken that voiced the question he found forming in his mouth.

"Why you-- _you're_ likely the one that's tired, you pathetic excuse for a youkai!" the little attendant squealed. InuYasha looked about ready to punt the creature off a cliff, and Sesshoumaru found himself not caring in the least. Jaken was developing an awful habit of speaking his mind at the most inopportune moments. The green beast was just about to screech is irritating voice again, but Sesshoumaru beat him to it.

"There is a spring nearby," he said shortly. "It seems everyone is in need of some water."

Jaken was left sputtering out his shellshock as everyone calmly passed him by. Only when Kilalla's tails were out of sight did he blink himself out of his stupor and chase after them, crying for them to wait. He could easily identify Rin's giggle even from a distance.

When he finally caught up with the group, he found Rin and Shippo sitting on a flat boulder, playing a silly clapping game. Sango and Kagome were filling several bottles with water with the intention of saving them for later, and Miroku was promptly slapped when his hand "slipped" and came in contact with Sango's posterior. He nearly fell into the water, but managed to save himself at the last moment. No one could blame Sango for looking disappointed at his averted splash.

InuYasha looked almost _too_ comfortable, kicking back between two large roots of a tree with his hands laced behind his head. Kagome joined him after a moment. Kouga was taking long gulps of water directly from the spring. Once Sango found a spot to relax, Kilalla was in her lap, being stroked leisurely.

Even Sesshoumaru seemed to be enjoying the break, though he stood somberly overlooking the water's rippling surface.

"Where were you and Jaken?" Shippo asked Rin, still playing the clapping game.

"When?" Rin replied with a smile.

"During the big fight with Naraku. Where were you and Jaken? I didn't see or smell you anywhere nearby."

Rin giggled, and fumbled with her hands for a moment. "Actually, Lord Jaken and I got lost. We didn't even know of the fight until it was all done!" The two burst out laughing, the game forgotten. InuYasha cracked one eye open to pin Jaken with a condescending look.

"You got lost?" he asked dryly. Jaken nearly dropped his staff in surprise to being spoken to by a hanyou.

"And I suppose _you_ never get lost?" the imp fizzled. "Why, if I--"

"Jaken," Sesshoumaru said sharply, though not looking at the toad. "You would do well to stay your tongue. I will not tolerate your outbursts any longer. Do you understand?"

Eyes bugging out to an impossible size, Jaken could only stammer out, "Y-y-yes, Lord Sesshoumaru, sir! I-i-it won't ever happen a-again!"

"See to it that it doesn't."

--

"She's near," Riku announced, glancing around and scenting the air. "_Very_ near."

"You said that at least an hour ago," Miroku complained, leaning heavily on his staff. It was already getting dark, and they had been walking almost the entire day. Having Sesshoumaru lead prove to be less... enjoyable... as with InuYasha. The youkai lord spurred them on faster than the younger of the two, and allowed less frequent stops. The water that Sango and Kagome had bottled was already gone, and they would have to find more if they were to eat that night, unless someone wanted to go hunting.

It was also frustrating to have Kouga traveling with them, as well. Whenever he tried to make a pass at Sango, Kouga would growl and call him a lecher, and Sango would give him an icy glare before speeding up to walk by Kagome and InuYasha. The two didn't mind at all. In fact, they seemed almost shy with each other since the marking. Miroku supposed this was to be expected, but he had at least expected them to hold hands or kiss or--

"Let's stop!" Shippo interrupted his thoughts before he could even wonder why Sango kept slowing down to walk beside him instead of within the safety of someone else, or why Kouga seemed nobler now that he'd lost his chance with Kagome. "I wanna go to sleep!" Shippo whined, hopping from InuYasha's shoulder to Kagome's and back.

'_At least he isn't devastated because InuYasha is now basically his adoptive father,_' Miroku thought to himself, noticing that Sango was again walking alongside him. In noticing this, he nearly missed seeing InuYasha move to swipe at Shippo, and his sleeve move enough to reveal his and Kagome's laced fingers. Sango met his glance, telling him that she had noticed, too, and was happy for them.

"We stop here," Sesshoumaru announced, glaring at Riku and daring him to argue. The shapeshifter boy backed down, slumping against the trunk of a tree.

Jaken reluctantly helped Rin off Ah-Un. It was then Miroku noticed that the imp had been strangely silent since Sesshoumaru had spoken to him. Judging from the look Kouga was giving him, he noticed, too.

Unfortunately for the toad youkai, Kouga decided to "experiment." After he had tethered the dragon-like steed, Kouga approached him. Jaken spun around to glare at him, clutching his Staff of Heads in what the wolf guessed was supposed to be a threatening way. It had no effect.

Without warning, Kouga kicked the youkai in the head, knocking him off his feet. Other than a loud, drawn out "Gehhhhhh!!" there was no reply. Jaken just got back on his feet, looking as if he was going to say something, then abruptly turned tail and shuffled off to find a safe place to sleep. Kouga blinked in astonishment that he wasn't deaf. '_But then again,_' he thought, '_I _am_ a full youkai... maybe I could get the monk to kick the little monstrosity around a bit._' This thought was accompanied by a sidelong glance to the monk in question, who was completely oblivious to the action, too preoccupied with watching Sango's ass.

"Kouga, what're you doing?" Kagome sighed, startling the youkai, and causing him to jump.

"Uhh..." he fumbled.

"Better question," InuYasha said in a flat tone. "Why are you following us in the first place?"

Now _that_ was a question he could answer. He assumed what he hoped was a casual stance, and shrugged. "Why else?" he countered. "You find all the good bitches."

---

Yes, I'm cutting off here. Keep in mind they're still traveling. And I'm aware I said the Efáyêth stuff would be in this chapter or the next. I promise it will be in the next chapter. I don't know if you'll get to meet Kiyoshi in the next chapter or not.

Eh, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it, right?

Right.

Oh, boy, I've read too much of the Myth Adventures books.....

Ja ne, minna-san.


	13. 12: EfáWhat?

Disclaimers: I'll own the Inu-tachi tomorrow. Didn't I tell you? But for today they're still Takahashi-sama's. But oh, the glorious tomorrow...

A/N: OK, I'm jumping right into this chapter. Don't be put off if it jumps in a little too soon/too fast for you, because I'll explain it all in due time.

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Twelve  
Efá-What?  
---

"Oi, Riku," Kouga barked. The boy looked up at him from where he was reclining during one of the now rare breaks during the day. Everyone was lounging about haphazardly, Kagome all but collapsing in InuYasha's lap as soon as they reached the riverside.

"What?" Riku replied.

"Just what the hell is this E-fey-eth thing?" the wolf wanted to know. "And why did Taiyo call you one?"

With a sigh, Riku began to explain. "First off," he said, gritting his teeth and sitting up straight, "it's _Efáyêth_. It's the native term for shapeshifter, and there's really no translation for it into _any_ language."

"Yeah?" Shippo perked up from his "dead" position on the ground. "Say something in Efáyêth, then."

"Cusadrehk eh Efáyêth, drah," Riku shrugged. "And it's the race that's called Efáyêth, but the language is Raphsadôn. There's also a version of the language called Raphsahédrôn. It's the old language, and the grammar's weird."

"So how come you can speak this language and we can understand you?" Sango inquired, brushing away Miroku's hand.

"Taiyo doesn't speak Raphsadôn," was the simple answer. "I had to learn. Kiyoshi taught me. After all, I _did_ teach her Raphsadôn."

"Kiyoshi didn't know Raphsadôn?" Miroku found the words leaving his mouth before he had a chance to think. It just didn't add up, though. If Kiyoshi was supposed to be a shapeshifter-- or an Efáyêth or whatever-- she should have known the language. She should've been _fluent_.

"I don't know if I should tell you or not," Riku admitted. Tension danced along his shoulders, a telltale sign that he was uncomfortable. A glare from several male youkai convinced him that he should tell. "Alright," he sighed once Kouga plopped down where he stood. "Kiyoshi isn't from Ea. From the Efáyêth village, that is. She wandered in about fifty-three years ago. And for the record, Efáyêth age the same as youkai. Anyway, she was hurt and one of the Elders took her in. Apparently she'd met Taiyo before that, because she'd often slip away and visit her, or Taiyo would come and visit her."

"Do you know what caused her to wander into Ea?" Kagome wondered sleepily, burrowing into InuYasha's arms.

Riku shook his head. "I don't know anything except she used to have two brothers. Taiyo could tell you more. She knows Kiyoshi almost better than she knows herself, and visa versa."

"Hey," Sango said slowly, almost as if she would change her mind. "How do you say 'keep your goddamn hands off me you dirty lecher'?" Miroku flinched.

"Gaab oui kuttysh ryhtc uv sa oui tewdo malraw." This statement was accompanied by a snigger. The meaning of Sango's question did not go unnoticed by anyone in the group. Kouga even laughed. Sesshoumaru only frowned at the taiji-ya's choice of words.

--

That night, InuYasha couldn't sleep. He sat near Kagome, who slept peacefully in her sleeping bag. Shippo wasn't with her that night. He snuggled in with Kilalla-- in her big form-- with Rin. The two had become fast friends, despite the fact that they were of different races. Rin was definitely brought up different from other humans. Then again, so was Shippo.

Once again, his attention turned to Kagome, though, the forms of his friends and brother and former rival fading into the distance. He wanted to do so much more than what they had now, though he knew she wasn't ready for the actual _mating_ yet. But that was okay. He'd be there when she was.

Not that he'd admit it to anyone other than his mate-- and even then, not right away-- he'd enjoyed holding her earlier in the day. He enjoyed just being around her. And carrying her on his back for the rest of the day when she rested her head on his shoulder was beyond words. There was just a way that the two of them fit together, just in the way his hands held the back of her thighs, and her head found the crook of his neck. At more than one point that day, he had wanted to just stop where he was and hold her for hours on end, forgetting everything else they were supposed to be doing.

He wasn't sure how the others would take the public show of affection between them. After all, the only "affection" showed among them before was Miroku groping Sango. He wasn't sure if petting Kilalla or Shippo really counted, but it was there, and it was affection.

Concern of the others aside, the previous day when he held her hand and walked along was undeniably worth facing down Naraku a thousand times over, _without_ Sesshoumaru at his back.

As much as he wanted his thoughts to linger on Kagome, the nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him something was watching him made him look up. Indeed, Sesshoumaru was watching him watch Kagome. He was nested comfortably against a tree, content to just observe his younger brother.

In truth, Sesshoumaru had never really gone to sleep. Out of the corner of his eyes, he'd watched InuYasha observe first Kagome, then Rin and Shippo, then Kagome again. It was almost enough to make him smile, but that would have ruined the image of the elder he was trying to portray.

It was as plain as day that InuYasha wanted to have a family. And not just any family, but a family with Kagome. The contentedness in his face, though, had shown clearly enough that he was willing to wait. Possibly wait until half-breeds were accepted, even.

Though that Sesshoumaru didn't know how long it would take for that to happen, he knew that Kagome had a similar interest in a family.

This brought him to an interesting thought as he and InuYasha made eye contact. Though it didn't show on his face, he was startled by it.

InuYasha was his last living relative, unless you counted the half-cousin twice removed... but he'd save that for another day. Whether he liked it or not, he and InuYasha were blood.

Half or not...

They were blood.

---

We all know how seriously Sesshoumaru takes his position as Lord of the Western Lands, right? And how he's determined to protect his father's bloodlines? In case I didn't make it clear enough, Sesshoumaru's just now realizing that InuYasha is the only other of his father's bloodlines. Whether he knew it or not before this is up to debate, but it's just now sinking in.

(Aimless prattling about the relation of Riku's language and the FF10 game has been deleted)

I seriously think this is enough rambling for now.

Please let me know what you're thinking of this so far! No pressure, but a little feedback would be nice.

Ja ne, minna-san.


	14. 13: Confessions and Confrontations

Disclaimers: Tomorrow... tomorrow... that's what the agents keep telling me. For today the Inu-tachi is still Takahashi-sama's.

(out-of-date comments have been deleted)

(then put back in by the beta)

(then deleted again)

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Thirteen  
Confessions and Confrontations  
---

Sesshoumaru's realization made no difference in the way he acted toward his brother. He still took the act of the superior, though InuYasha was none too pleased. The younger was presently muttering to Kagome.

"Remind me again why we're letting Sesshoumaru lead?" he grumbled.

"Because he's got a superiority complex," she sighed.

'_I do not_,' Sesshoumaru found himself thinking.

"Ah," InuYasha complied.

Suddenly Sesshoumaru came to a stop, whirling to face his brother. "InuYasha," he announced. The group members blinked. "_You_ lead for a while." There was obvious strain on Jaken's face that kept him from speaking. Without another word, Sesshoumaru strolled over to where Rin walked beside Shippo, and scooped her up to carry her. Shippo easily bounded to sit on Miroku's shoulder, stopping the monk's attempt at a pass. Sango sped up to walk by Riku, InuYasha shrugging and taking the lead once again, Kagome all but attached to his hand.

"So," Sango said, trying to ease the strange reticence that settled over her fellows. "May I ask how you came to be betrothed to Kiyoshi?"

Trying to hold back the surprise in his voice, Riku blinked several times before replying. "It was just announced one day," he admitted. "I think it had something to do with me following her around all day. She was fairly distant all the time, and I guess the betrothal was just meant to tie her more to the village."

"It didn't work, did it?" Shippo inquired, listening in on the discussion. Riku glanced back at him.

"Not really." Sango shook her head in sympathy. Miroku went through similar actions. "After that, she only became more secluded."

"She doesn't like you," Shippo made a face, jumping to ride on Sango's shoulder and get a better vantage point of the Efáyêth's facial expressions. "She would've stayed if she wanted to be with you."

Riku frowned. "But..." he protested. "She would have to have agreed to the betrothal before the Elders would announce it."

"Did they ask _you_?" Miroku inquired, easily catching up with the preceding.

"No," the boy muttered. "But--"

"I'm assuming they asked your parents?" Sesshoumaru interjected, suddenly taking an interest in the talk of non-youkai. This earned him a nod. "How would they ask Kiyoshi's parents if she _wandered_ into Ea?"

"That's why she'd have to agree to it herself!"

"You sure they weren't just blackmailing her?" InuYasha teased over his shoulder.

"InuYasha!" Kagome hissed.

"What?" InuYasha replied smartly.

"I never... I never thought of that... before..." Riku said quietly. Miroku felt a wash of pity for the boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He supposed he knew what it was like to love and not be loved. With a secretive glance to the boomerang-toting taiji-ya, Miroku sighed, trying to make it sound like he was sympathizing with the boy.

Sango, for her part, adapted the situation much the same as Miroku, though the rolls were reversed. She stared ahead with a small frown on her face, trying to look concerned for Riku. Her gaze stayed steady on InuYasha and Kagome's hands, her look turning longing and introspective. Riku and Miroku were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to notice. Shippo, though, raised his eyebrows as he glanced between the couple up ahead and the expression on Sango's face.

Keeping a steady pace, Sesshoumaru tactfully observed the situation before him. Perhaps this was the reason they had left Kouga behind while the wolf was still asleep. Surely the immature youkai couldn't resist to poke fun at the monk for his interest in the situation. It was painfully obvious to that Sesshoumaru the complete hopelessness of the plight of the two humans. Riku's predicament was less clear, but still left a sharp impression on the Western Lord.

"Hey!!!" Kouga's voice caught up with them. "I can't believe you just ditched me like that!" he roared as he fell into step with the formation. "Switch leaders again, eh?"

"Mind your own business, Kouga," InuYasha grumbled tiredly. The sudden change from the teasing to tiresome demeanor nearly caught Sesshoumaru off-guard. From what he heard, InuYasha was usually tough and callous toward the wolf, but the attitude he observed now was anything but.

'_It's just as well_,' Sesshoumaru told himself. '_At least now I can verify this predicament with someone without completely giving away my intentions_.'

"_Kouga_," the lord growled, low enough that only the whelp in question could hear. He slowed to keep stride with the elder youkai. "_Do you observe anything unusual about these humans?_"

Taking a closer-- though discreet-- look around, he shrugged in a distracted manner, so as to fool the others. "_Other than Kagome and InuYasha-- oh, and Riku standing between the exterminator and monk-- everything seems normal._"

"_Are they always this distant with each other?_"

Another glance, and a shrug. "_The monk and Sango... yeah._"

"_I shall never understand humans, then._"

"_You and me both,_" Kouga agreed, before catching up to InuYasha to make a pest of himself.

Sesshoumaru turned his gaze down to the human in his arms, who was drowsing lazily in the warm day. Even if he could never understand the race, that didn't mean that this particular girl would be raised human. He cast a glance to Shippo, the youkai raised as a human, and back the human girl he was determined to raise as a youkai. Contrast indeed.

--

Later that day, during a short break (more frequently than Sesshoumaru, though not as lengthy) Riku thought on InuYasha's words.

_Had_ the Elders truly blackmailed Kiyoshi into the betrothal? And did Kiyoshi have any intention of making it anything _but_ a betrothal?

Again his anger turned to the mysterious hanyou that distracted Kiyoshi's attention. Before that accursed _being_ came along, Kiyoshi's full attention was on him, all for Riku. She'd adored his accuracy in his transformations, and even asked him to help her from time to time. But after that damn hanyou showed up, Kiyoshi's attention was divided, and soon was altogether turned to the other boy, who obviously didn't reciprocate her affections.

It was just the way Kiyoshi was, he supposed. The 'poor hanyou' was too weak to defend himself against other youkai, and he was part coyote youkai, too. He wasn't even native to the lands. Somehow Riku knew that if Kouga were ever to meet Taran, a bloody fight would ensue, and Kouga would be the victor. Taran-- the coyote hanyou-- wouldn't even stand a chance.

Even though there were several rumors about Kiyoshi being treated unkindly by humans, she still defended the honor of the race with a fierce passion. No one could quite understand her because of it, and so marked up the defense as part of her morality.

Riku often suspected that Kiyoshi was just a simple person at heart, even underneath all the spider web patterned complexity. For now, though, it was mere speculation. Nothing could be confirmed until he confronted her.

His attention was suddenly turned east. He could have imagined it, but... After a quick sniff, he was sure.

Kiyoshi was closer.

---

(aimless prattle has been deleted)

Anyway, hope you liked it! You meet Kiyoshi in the next chapter! (I think)

Ja ne, minna-san.


	15. 14:This is Kiyoshi

Disclaimer: I don't own the Inu-tachi today, but tomorrow there's supposed to be an airdrop where they'll be dropped off in my yard...

A/N: It's official: High school is a freakin' hellhole. Good thing I've got good friends staying by me, no matter what I decide to write! Although I did say I'd finish DR before working on TWM again... Well, darn. What _ever_ shall I do?

Kaelie: XP

Enjoy, folks! And yes, you meet Kiyoshi. This setup for the library computers is weird...

---  
Three Way Mirror  
Chapter Fourteen  
This is Kiyoshi  
---

Sesshoumaru amidst his observations saw Riku twist his attention from the ground to the east. After a subtle scenting of the wind, the western lord identified the new scent that the boy was supposedly after. It didn't occur to him that this scent was that of Kiyoshi's. He was suddenly interested though, and swiftly approached the Efáyêth. When he did not receive instant attention, the angry youkai cleared his throat.

This brought Riku's head swiveling around faster than Sesshoumaru thought possible, and for additional attention to turn to the lord, too. Jaken flinched, thinking he was on the receiving end of a swift punishment. Kouga had picked on the poor toad youkai on non-stop, and the wolf didn't show any signs of stopping, either. It was only to the woe of the little creature when Kouga would "trip" during their travels, and "accidentally" land on the imp. Jaken would nearly respond before sending a frenzied glance to his lord, and hobbled on his way, thinking of the harsh punishment that could follow should he speak out. Somehow he thought that the tenseiga would not come for him again.

"Quit terrorizing the pup," InuYasha growled, holding a drowsy Kagome in his lap. The poor girl was having horrible dreams involving Kikyou, a weak binding spell, and a bloody InuYasha that she knew was her fault. She would sleep fitfully, and woe to the one that woke her before InuYasha deemed it time. Kouga was nearly left in a coma not ten hours ago when they set off at first light. InuYasha was reluctant to wake the girl, but Kouga had tried to rouse her prematurely. InuYasha was livid with anger, lashing out at the youkai uncontrollably.

"What's wrong?" Sesshoumaru demanded, ignoring his younger brother completely.

With a shaky breath, Riku put forth, "Kiyoshi's close," before Miroku could interrupt, he continued: "as in _really_ close." His face was pale, his breathing shallow. He looked... afraid. It only really occurred to InuYasha then that they hadn't even inquired as to how Riku felt about Kiyoshi or the betrothal.

It was Kagome that pulled herself into the waking world to comment, "Do you want to see her so soon?" Riku seemed to shudder. It pulled painfully at Kagome's heart to see someone in such a similar situation as she was in before. Afraid to see the one she loved, yet wanting to see him more than anything. She felt a wash of pity swell over her in the direction of the boy. InuYasha seemed to sense her sudden-- though slight-- unease, and pulled her into a close, comforting embrace.

"What're you going to do?" Miroku wondered gravely, the air suddenly changing to that of professionalism, and the dirty letch was gone.

Kilalla helped Riku get to his feet, having curled up near him after a time. "I'm... I'm going to go after her," he announced, abruptly bolting in the direction Kiyoshi's scent appeared to be coming from.

With a course of heavy sighs, the weary travelers followed him.

--

They had been running for nearly a full hour when Riku finally stopped, every one else coming to a halt behind him. InuYasha was none-too-pleased to be behind again. If Sesshoumaru was provoked because of the position, he gave no sign.

"What's wrong?" Shippo asked, sensing the boy's utter confusion.

"She's lead us in a circle," he whispered. Suddenly his tone changed and he was enraged, absolutely infuriated at the fact. "Damn you, Kiyoshi!" he screamed, his voice echoing through the forest. "Damn you and wherever you come from to hell, you damned bitch!"

The unceremonious altering in attitude caught everyone off guard. Several of them were taken aback, but least of whom the boy desired to fume at. Glancing around, it was discovered that they were in the exact same place they started from.

Without warning, a large snake wrapped around the form of the young shapeshifter, squeezing all but his head. The scales glinted sickeningly in the dying light, catching a deathly opalescent color accented by poisonous fumes that were only lethal at close range.

"Stay back, Kagome," InuYasha ordered, pushing the girl behind him. Before he could draw his sword, though, both Kouga and Sesshoumaru were attacking the snake.

"You just focus on protecting that mate of yours from that witch!" Kouga shouted, aiming a blow at the serpent's head. The fiend promptly shrank back from the would-be lethal strike, and reared back, eyes shifting from a clear green to a cloudy red in the process. Preventing the snake from hitting Kouga, Sesshoumaru struck with toukijin. The creature writhed in agony, uncoiling from Riku with a deathly shriek. Sango rode in on Kilalla, Miroku jumping off just as she passed the boy, and managing to drag him over to the sidelines, letting the three youkai and taiji-ya handle the hellion.

Avoiding any further attacks that could have been made, the snake youkai shifted smoothly into a large wolf, eyes glowing red with blue slits as pupils as multi-colored scales flew in every direction, to be replaced by shimmering white fur. Kouga was taken aback, and even went so far as to recoil.

"What're you doing?!" Sango demanded, looking back at the wolf.

"Imposter or not, I can't attack the form of a Sacred Ookami!"

Everyone let that slide, deciding to ask about it later-- if there was a later. The large wolf swiped at Sesshoumaru, but the dog reacted faster. He jumped back, flipping through the air, and slicing the limb before rearing back and taking a quick slash. The wolf's paw was easily severed from its body, and it teetered on its three remaining feet. Its red eyes shifted to a dark purple, blue changing to a sickly green. The severed body part smoked and steamed, the grey fumes issuing from it creating a hazy barrier to obstruct view as it seemed to get smaller.

A spray of blood was coming from the wolf, and InuYasha barely managed to grab Kagome and get out of the way in time before they were bathed in the sticky crimson fluids. The same substance that covered the once-wolf-paw arm now came from the body of the wolf. It wasn't as thick, so some changes could be seen through the veil of disgusting vapors. The youkai among the small group nearly gagged from the smell of poison coming from the "wolf". InuYasha covered his nose with his sleeve, Sesshoumaru going through similar motions. Kouga, who had no sleeves to hide behind, backed up a good distance, almost collapsing against a tree.

The nearly forgotten Riku raised his injured body to its knees, glaring straight through the clouds to the figure inside. Slowly he got to his feet, eyes dangerously dark.

At an agonizingly lethargic pace, the clouds of poisonous-smelling miasma grew smaller, and eventually dissipated all together, leaving behind the bleeding form of a human girl. The only things that kept her from looking completely human and in the era that she belonged in were the blue bangs hanging before her eyes. Other than that, she looked completely at home. Her pants were reminiscent to those of InuYasha's, but her shirt was made of bandages. She wore nothing on her feet.

"Kiyoshi," Riku growled. The girl's attention swiveled to him, though she kept her shoulders at such an angle that no one could see where the blood flow began. Glancing over to the second cloud of disappearing smog, InuYasha saw a human arm, fingers curled slightly, blood pooling around the place where it was severed. He put himself in such a position that he blocked Kagome's view of the spectacle. She didn't notice.

Though he received no reply, Riku continued, "Why did you kill them?" His eyes began to water. The expression on his face betrayed nothing, but his eyes... his eyes were the real key. The eyes Kiyoshi had were a murky purple where a human's would be white, and red irises. "Why lead me around like that?"

The smirk on Kiyoshi's face was absolutely horrible. The sadism displayed there had nothing to do with intimate positions, but everything to do with mental turmoil and every kind of pain. "So you could smell them."

"All of them."

Sesshoumaru, regaining his composure the quickest, discreetly scented the air. Even as he did so, InuYasha grimaced. In a few seconds, the youkai lord knew why. The scent of death and the blood of others clung to the girl's frame as she strode lightly over to her fallen limb. She walked on the balls of her feet, as a wolf would. The small observation was not lost on Kouga. She'd spent too much time in the shape of a wolf.

"That's right, all of them," Kiyoshi growled. "Every single one." She picked up her arm, and held it where it was supposed to be attached. It was at least an inch away from the gruesome stub, but something rather disturbing happened.

Muscles reached out and connected with their lost ends. Tissue stretched out, taking its former positions, and the skin spread in a grotesque crawl from both ends. The bone glistened in the afternoon light like a wet stone by a river. In a single moment, the girl was whole again. She flexed her fingers just to be sure. They moved perfectly. She tried to rotate her shoulder. It rotated.

If anyone felt sick, it was Kagome. Somehow InuYasha knew it was some sort of obscene display to do just that. He felt the first waves of frustration come over him as his mate clung to his arm in a helpless gesture. That frustration fueled his voice, and he found himself talking without thinking, something that often happened.

"Just what the hell was that all about?" he shouted, fisting his hands at his sides. The second Efáyêth glanced over to him, a cruel smirk on his face.

"Can't your mate take it?" she wondered aloud, the insult achingly clear to everyone. "Rather weak, eh?"

Before anyone could so much as blink, the girl was knocked flat on her back, spread-eagle. InuYasha's face was contorted in a mask of anger, hand clutching the tetsusaiga for dear life. Kagome felt slightly dizzy. She stayed on her feet, which was why no one noticed when she blacked out.

"Don't you _ever_ insult my mate!" he growled behind clenched teeth.

From her prone position on the ground, Kiyoshi rubbed her jaw. Riku moved to launch a counter-attack, but was intercepted by a now fully recovered Kouga.

Kiyoshi sat up, one hand pressed to her face, cradling her jaw. The cloudy colors of purple and red of her eyes were gone. Replacing the evil shades were white, as per normal for a human, and a very vibrant green. She looked confused. Just as she was about to say something, both her attention and the attention of her would-be attacker turned to the young miko.

A sinister energy was swirling around her. Her bangs hid her face, and her frame went rigid. She was tensing up, preparing for the strike.

"No," InuYasha whispered desperately to himself. The word was hardly in the air before he threw himself at his mate. The girl saw this coming, and quickly dodged to the side. The end result was InuYasha landing on all fours, and skidding a good distance, spinning at the same time to keep his eyes on his mate. He stubbornly ignored the burning pain on his shoulder, though tears were forming in his eyes.

Kagome's mouth twisted into a cruel smirk, much like the one Kiyoshi wore not two minutes ago. Sesshoumaru and Kouga made no move to stop her, and neither did Riku. They all knew that the aura around Kagome would automatically start to purify their youkai blood. Riku wasn't sure of the effect it would have on him, but he didn't want to take any chances.

Knowing that "Kikyou's" reactions were enhanced by InuYasha's mark, Miroku and Sango were powerless against her. The rings on Miroku's staff rang as his hand started to shake.

Kikyou, in Kagome's body, slung an arrow slowly but purposefully, aiming it at Kiyoshi. The Efáyêth didn't know what was going on, as InuYasha suddenly noticed. He pounced on Kagome's body, but Kikyou was the one in control. Out of the corner of Kagome's eye, Kikyou noticed the subtle changes in the hanyou's positioning. Just as Kagome could draw off of Kikyou's knowledge, Kikyou could draw off of Kagome's. It was not a pretty realization.

---

(aimless prattle has been deleted, then new, improved, RANTING has been added!)

That's all I've got for now. I'm thinking about posting Desert Rose on here... Did I delete the comments about that? If I did, you can ignore this next part, if I didn't, if you're interested, you can read it:

Desert Rose is the prequel to Close To Me, and the sequel to CTM is Mad About You. (Don't joke about the MAY abbreviation; I already know.) All three make up the Yu-Gi-Oh trilogy I'm writing, as well as Interlude, which fits as a nice filler between CTM and MAY (I hear sniggering). If you think I should post it, let me know. Email, review, IM, any way you can get a hold of me, let me know. (Email will work best)

Th-th-th-that's all for now, folks!

Ja matte, minna-san.


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